of the Pope, or of the Church. Therefore, to imagine the Tribunal of
Penance to be an engine for obtaining and using information in
domestic concerns and family secrets, is to be sorely ignorant of the
nature of confession and of the obligations of a confessor.

4. Objectors of another kind urge that confession induces persons to
sin more readily, or at least it transfers the keeping of conscience
to the priest.

Seeing that all which is demanded by Protestants for repentance must
be in the mind of the Catholic before he can be absolved, it is clear
the objection comes ill from them, and can have no foundation. Of
course, for those who believe that Catholics obtain pardon by payment
of money, the objection would have weight. But it can hardly be
imagined that in the nineteenth century, among an intelligent people
like Americans, there are to be found persons who believe that
Catholics are so bereft of reason as to imagine that sin can be
forgiven by the giving of silver and gold.

Every Catholic knows that to speak falsely in Confession would be to
lie to the Holy Ghost, as did Ananias and Saphira; that to confess as
Judas did, without sorrow, would not only bring no pardon, but, on the
contrary, would add the sin of sacrilege to his soul. The Catholic
knows that without a firm efficacious determination of purpose to
avoid sin and its occasions, and to satisfy for injuries done, there
can be no forgiveness of sin.

Nowhere is the soul of man more prone to self-deception than in the
matter of true repentance. Temptation may cease, and with it comes
cessation of wrong-doing. This, under self-deception, may be easily