Note 948 — Chapter II · THE TREATMENT OF PENITENTS IN DIFFERENT EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Tappehorn, l. c., says that in all cases the confessor must insist that the thing stolen should, if possible, in some way or other, even with the help of the confessor, be restored; but, surely, this is too severe, even with the limitation “if possible,” and the addition that absolution might rather be deferred till the restitution had been made, must be limited to the case of a more considerable theft, when the stolen object is still in the possession of the penitent, and, perhaps, to the case of a child who had repeatedly committed thefts.