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About this quote

What does it mean?
Forgiveness depends on the priest's belief that the sinner is forgiven.
In plain terms
You are forgiven only if the priest believes you are.
What can you take from it?
Trust the authority's belief to feel absolved.

Where it applies

  • confession
  • religious rites

Putting it to work

  • seeking absolution
  • relying on clergy

Questions to consider

  • What role should personal conscience play in forgiveness?
  • Can forgiveness be valid without external validation?

Another view

It places too much power in the priest's personal belief.

More from Leo X (Pope)

  1. That there are three parts to penance: contrition, confession, and satisfaction, has no foundation in Sacred Scripture nor in the ancient sacred Christian doct…

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  2. Hence, I say, trust confidently, if you have obtained the absolution of the priest, and firmly believe yourself to have been absolved, and you will truly be ab…

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  3. To one on the point of death imperfect charity necessarily brings with it great fear, which in itself alone is enough to produce the punishment of purgatory, a…

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