Note 647 — Chapter I · THE ESSENTIAL DUTIES OF THE CONFESSOR IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS OFFICE; OR, THE CONFESSOR CONSIDERED IN HIS OFFICE OF JUDGE

St. Alphonsus teaches: “The confessor should not be too solicitous in questioning; let him ask the penitent about that which, having regard to his position, probably concerns him.” And in another place his advice is: “Let him ask only about the sins which the penitents might easily commit, considering their station and intelligence.” And Billuart says: “The confessor must make his investigations in a humane and temperate way, but not in every imaginable way. For the priest is not bound to examine the penitent more than the latter is bound to examine himself.... Nor is it to the point to say that the priest would perhaps find more if he sought more, for we have not only to consider the material completeness of the confession, but also that the Sacrament of Penance must not be made irksome and odious to penitents by overgreat and exaggerated anxiety in questioning; it, therefore, suffices if the confessor can be prudently convinced that the penitent is omitting nothing that he ought to confess.” Cf. S. Alph. Lib. VI. n. 607; H. Ap. Tract. 16, n. 102; Gury, Ed. Ratisb. Not. ad n. 615.