Public Sinners

PUBLIC SINNERS. - These are those who gravely and publicly offend the moral order; or more precisely those who by an act, known to the community, have gravely violated a norm of conduct and have not publicly amended themselves or repented.

The concrete content of this concept is historically quite varied. The Roman Ritual (tit. IV, ch. 1, De sanctissimo Eucharistiae Sacramento, n. 11), for example, places blasphemers too among public sinners, whereas today there is fairly general agreement in excluding them; on the other hand, today those who knowingly and freely join the communist party must undoubtedly also be placed among public sinners, of whom the Ritual evidently says nothing. To classify them, therefore, one must look above all to the thought of the most esteemed theologians and to the sense of the faithful. Today the important groups of public sinners are made up of those living in concubinage (think, for example, of the countries in which divorce exists), and of the adherents of associations or parties condemned by the Church (Freemasonry, the communist party, etc.).

I. PUBLIC SINNERS AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH

The subject interests historians, moralists, and pastors of souls alike. For the first, it falls within the complex question of public and private penances in the early centuries of the Church and, in general, within the broader treatment of the various forms in which the administration of the Sacrament of Penance (v.) has historically presented itself. For the second, it is of interest for the question of reparation for sin and the removal of scandal. The sinner must in fact strive to erase all the consequences of his bad conduct, seeking, as far as he is able, to restore the world around him to that situation in which it would be, had his sin not intervened. If the sin has been public, the reparation must therefore be in some way public (v. SCANDALO). For pastors of souls it is of interest with regard to the conduct to be observed toward them and especially with regard to the effects of the administration of the Sacraments. It is well known in fact that can. 693 § 1 of the CIC forbids admitting public sinners into associations erected or approved by the Church; can. 855 says to keep them away from the Eucharist as long as they have not given manifest signs of amendment; can. 1240 requires depriving them of ecclesiastical burial unless before death they have given signs of repentance.

II. PRACTICAL NORMS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS

As is well known, the condition of sin can be only objective, or only subjective, or both at the same time; it is only objective when the infraction of the norm of conduct is involuntary; only subjective when, through error, the conscience has presented as sinful an action that in fact is not so; objective and subjective at one and the same time when the opposition to the moral order truly exists and is free.

Now for the administration of the Sacraments there is no difficulty whatever when it is a question of a person who is subjectively and objectively a sinner (always a p. p., of course). In that case, in fact, the conditions required in order to have access to the Sacraments are totally lacking in the subject, and moreover the common good is gravely offended. The priest is not the "master" of the Sacraments; he is only their minister and cannot grant them except under certain conditions: if these are lacking, he cannot admit anyone to the Sacraments at all. The difficulty, on the other hand, arises at once when it is a question of a p. p. only in the objective sense. If they are granted publicly, the community may easily be tempted to think that such conduct is not truly, or at least not gravely, sinful, or that one may have access to the Sacraments even in a condition of sin. On the other hand, if the Sacraments are refused even privately, a man is deprived of the normal means of Grace, and moreover at a time when he is particularly in need of it, because of the situation in which he finds himself, the persons he must associate with and the difficulties he must overcome. It therefore seems indispensable to distinguish, for p. p., always in the objective sense only, between public administration and private administration: in the first manner the Sacraments cannot be granted even to them, because of all the repercussions in the Christian community recalled above; in the second manner no reasons are seen for denying them; thus provision is made for the good of individuals particularly in need of the help of the Sacraments without harming in any way the members of the community. Moreover, the distinction is not new. At least for occult sins (cf., for example, can. 855).

The observations made thus far allow us to find a line of conduct also for the simple faithful. More than once they ask how persons who live in an irregular situation (concubinaries, etc.) should be treated, whether they may receive them, whether they may remain in relations with them, etc. They may receive them and remain in relations with them in the forms and to the extent that provision is made for their good without spiritually harming the other members of the community. If they decide to receive them, they will do so in such a way as to help them to emerge from the painful situation in which they find themselves, and with such precautions that no one suffers scandal from it or finds incitement to follow their bad examples. If they decide not to receive them, they will do so in such a way as not to preclude the possibilities of conversion. As can be seen, these are indications that are only theoretically simple. Even the most modest contact with reality and life demonstrates their difficulty with painful evidence. More than once it will not be easy to see the line to be followed; still more difficult will it be truly to follow it. For this reason it will be of extreme importance to cultivate sentiments of humility and love: the effort to love one's neighbor must be constant; the forms in which it can be embodied will vary. And the p. p. himself must accept with loving resignation the limitations indicated above: by drawing near to them and respecting them he too will bring a contribution to his own conversion and to the edification of the brethren.

Giovan Battista Guzzetti