Jean-François of Reims, Capuchin (d. 1660): When Are Rash Judgments Mortal Sins? With Some Advice for Confession
Source: Jean-François de Reims, Capucins (m. 1660), Le directeur pacifique des consciences, partie 2, livre 2 instruction 2.
In order to clearly explain when rash judgment is a venial or mortal sin (I mean rash judgment made with reflection and full understanding, and not one made without awareness, as I just mentioned),
(1) I say first that all rash judgment is only a venial sin when it is of little consequence, and concerns something that would only be a venial sin. For example: judging a person to be somewhat vain based on weak conjectures; judging that someone may have committed some minor theft, and the like.
(2) Rash judgments about serious matters and mortal sins are still only venial when they are made with hesitation, and as though not wishing to assert with certainty that the thing is as one believes. But they become mortal sins when three things are present together:
- First, when one judges the thing to be a mortal sin.
- When the rash judgment is made without hesitation, and with such certainty that one firmly believes the thing is as judged, unwilling to reconsider.
- When the judgment is made based on weak and light conjectures.
So, if these three conditions do not all occur together, the rash judgment, whatever it may be, is never a mortal sin; but if they are all present, then it is a mortal sin, and it obliges restitution, that is, we must restore to our neighbor the good opinion we previously held of them. This is done by letting go of our bad judgment, refusing to accept it with our will, and regaining the good opinion we had of them before.
Let the soul that fears God avoid this vice with all possible diligence, and not imitate the spider, which makes poison from everything.
Nevertheless, I will add that rash judgments often disturb weak and scrupulous minds, especially when they see others doing things they themselves would not or could not do without some remorse of conscience, thus judging others according to the narrowness of their own understanding. Let them therefore attribute such thoughts to their weakness or scrupulosity, which will be a true means of soon freeing themselves from them and avoiding any sin.
Advice for Confession
To properly confess what pertains to this sin, a distinction must be made between mere thoughts of rash judgment, suspicions, and rash judgments.
If one has had only thoughts of rash judgment, against one’s will, and has tried to reject them upon noticing them, there is no need to confess these, even if they remained long in the mind, since in that case, they are not matter for Confession. If one has been negligent in rejecting them, then one should simply confess that negligence.
But if after those thoughts one has willfully given in to some suspicion based on weak conjectures, one must confess having had an unjustified suspicion of a person too lightly; and it is good to mention whether the matter was of great or little importance, so the Confessor can better judge its gravity.
If one had sufficient reasons to form the suspicion, there is no need to confess it, since there is no sin.
As for rash judgments: if one has formed and settled a judgment based on weak conjectures, since it can be either mortal or venial, it is necessary to specify, at least in general, whether it concerned a matter of great or small importance.
And when the judgment concerns a serious matter or a mortal sin, it is also helpful to specify the type of sin one rashly attributed to the other person, since the rash judgment takes on the malice of the sin one imputes to them, which can be of various kinds, e.g., judging someone rashly to be an adulterer, an incestuous person, a thief, a sacrilegious person, vindictive, etc.
This only applies when the judgment has been fully settled, and based on weak grounds, which happens very rarely in devout souls.
If the judgment was only half-formed, and accompanied by doubt about the opposite (so that one did not want to affirm it as certain), it is enough to say: “I made a rash judgment on a serious matter, without fully settling it.”
If the judgment was made without rashness and based on well-established conjectures, there is no need to confess it, as there is no sin.