Chapter XXI: Section II: The Office of the Confessor

When the priest who is _rite_ authorized to administer the Sacrament of Penance makes use of the power intrusted to him and exercises the office of a confessor, he performs a threefold office: that of Judge, that of Physician of the Soul, and that of Teacher. The most important of these is the first, the office of Judge; this is his essential office by the institution of the Sacrament; while the other two are only of an accessory character, not because they are of inferior significance,—they are, indeed, very important offices, upon the faithful discharge of which much depends,—but because they “dispose to the right exercise of the judicial office” and their faithful and zealous execution is necessary to the better, more fruitful, and more salutary discharge of the former. If, in the administration of this Sacrament, the priest officiated merely as judge, without, at the same time, proving himself to be a physician and teacher also, he would discharge his office unfruitfully, and weaken the efficacy of the Sacrament to which Christ has attached great effects.