Note 487 — Chapter I · JURISDICTION

Such a priest may valide absolve a dying person if no other priest be present, for the Tridentine says: quilibet sacerdos may absolve in articulo mortis. Cf. S. Alph. l. c. n. 560 circa fin.; Gury-Ballerini, l. c. n. 550. But it is not difficult to see why deficiente alio sacerdote is added here; for the communicatio in sacris with heretics and with excommunicated persons who are to be avoided (excommunicati vitandi) is a grave sin, unless when excused by necessity; a penitent, therefore, would himself commit a grave sin if he should solicit absolution from a heretical priest, or one to be avoided (a vitandus), unless no other priest should be at hand. To ask the Sacrament of Penance from such an unhappy priest, and to receive it, even when it is allowed, appears, however, to be in any case a dangerous proceeding; evil influence at the most important moment of human life, and also scandal to others, are to be feared.