From the listening to the forgiving. Notes about the role of the confessor as a curatus medicus animarum in the Canonical regulations and in the doctrinal reflection

Abstract

Canons 21 and 22 of the Fourth Lateran Council the XXI stands out as the most important normative especially in the sacramental discipline about confession and the munus of the sacerdos as curatus medicus animarum. Given a brief excursus on the confession’s history, we will try to understand the impact of the Innocentian legislation on doctrinal reflection and the development of the following regulation on the subject between the Middle Ages and the modern age.

Keywords: Confession; Doctor; Healing.