The Pleasure of Privacy: Confession and Inquisition as Means to Cause the Correction of Sinful Consciences around the IV Lateran Council

Abstract

The passage of the public penance to private penance was the loss of the public character of the punishment, but also that the Church lost the control of behavior, because its repression would depend now only of the personal need for forgiveness of each faithful. In addition, under these new circumstances, heterodox forms of profess religion, heresies, which infected the population, and it was linked to the fact that many sexual behavior contrary to Catholic morality extend arise among the population, which already should not purge their sins in public. This situation pushed the Church to face a new situation: to cause voluntary contrition of the penitent. The IV Lateran Council faces the problem from four aspects: 1. the annual obligation to the confession and that this is done with the “proprio sacerdote”, to ensure that the Confessor knows the circumstances of the sinner, 2. The canonical regulation of marriage, in order to exclude attitudes contrary to morality; 3. The creation of chairs of theology, to train priests and these to the faithful, through the preaching; 4. The establishment of the inquisitorial courts, which will be the punishment for those who do not accept the contrition and the amendment of its life. Our work is focused on this need of cause the voluntary contrition, and the means employed to achieve this. We study the similar evolution of the sacrament of penance and the inquisitorial process, which together with the preaching, involves the exercise of the triple ecclesial Ministry: munus regendi and munus docendi, munus santificandi.