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Dear Father Angelo I’m 15 years old.

I would like to ask you a couple of things

1) I happened to take 250€ from a drawer in my house, at first I felt sick because I immediately thought about it as stealing, but then I made a pact with myself saying that I would have returned them. After a couple of months I returned the money, so I would like to know if this is a sin.

2) Last Sunday I went to confession, but after having exited the confessional I remembered some sins that were quite serious, so I went back to the confessional and confessed my sins again; my question is: does confession forgive the sins that you forget to confess?

I thank you in advance for your answer.

Dear friend,

1. Taking that amount of money certainly constitutes a sin.

You stole from your own home, but it’s still stealing. It’s a voluntary theft of money, done against the wishes of your parents.

Therefore, you need to confess it.

2. When it comes to sins against justice, reparation is always necessary.

You remain in injustice until you have reimbursed the person you stole from.

This, you have done. And, in doing so, you showed that you sincerely regretted your action.

But the sin remains.

Therefore, confession is necessary.

In his judgment, the confessor will take into consideration your repentance and the reparation that took place.

3. In regards to the second question, we have to clarify if we are talking about grave sins, meaning mortal sins or “quite serious” sins.

Sometimes with the expression “quite serious” we mean a venial sin that borders on grave, but actually isn’t, for example a heated discussion.

Such a discussion leaves us with a bitterness in our soul, but is not yet a mortal sin, especially considering that it’s easy for us to go overboard with our words.

4. If, on the other hand, we are talking about a mortal sin, like missing the sanctification of a Holiday out of laziness, cursing or committing impure acts, then these are grave sins that need to be confessed.

If we forgot to confess them because maybe we had other, more serious, sins to confess that drew the attention of the confessor and centered the confession around that sin, the ones we forgot, albeit grave, are forgiven with the absolution given by the priest.

The reason is that we intended to confess them, but forgot about them.

5. However, since the confession of mortal sins is divine law (and the Church cannot dispense from what God Himself established), we will confess them in a following confession, saying that we forgot to do so during our last one.

However, since the sacramental absolution restores the grace of God in us, we can in the meantime receive Holy Communion.

I wish you well, I recommend you to the Lord and bless you.

Father Angelo