Letter 69

From: Ambrose, Bishop of Milan To: Patiens Date: ~390 AD Context: A letter to a bishop named Patiens dealing with the discipline of clergy who have committed serious offenses, setting out Ambrose's approach to balancing justice and mercy within the Church. Ambrose to his brother Patiens — greetings in the Lord. You have written about the difficult case in your diocese — the cleric who has fallen into serious sin — and you ask how to proceed. I understand the difficulty. Too much severity drives people away from repentance; too much leniency destroys discipline. Here is my counsel. First: establish the facts. Do not act on rumor. The eighth commandment prohibits false witness, and that applies to ecclesiastical proceedings as well as civil ones. Interview the witnesses. Hear the accused. If the evidence is uncertain, reserve judgment. Second: if the facts are established, act firmly but not vindictively. The goal of ecclesiastical discipline is restoration, not destruction. We punish not to satisfy our anger but to heal the sinner and protect the community. Third: the penance must be proportionate to the offense. A minor lapse requires a minor penance. A grave scandal — one that has become public knowledge and has damaged the Church's reputation — requires a grave and public penance. Private sins may be dealt with privately; public sins demand public accountability. Fourth: once the penance is completed, reconcile the offender fully. Do not maintain an informal punishment beyond the formal one. The man who has done his penance and been restored to communion should not face a lifetime of whispered suspicion. If we forgive, we forgive — we do not hold grudges under the guise of "caution." Fifth: if the offense is one that disqualifies the person from holy orders — certain kinds of violence, sexual misconduct involving those in their pastoral care, heresy — then they may be reconciled as a layperson but not restored to the ministry. The altar demands a standard that ordinary life does not. Handle this case wisely, brother. The eyes of your church are on you, and they will learn from your example whether the Church deals in justice or in caprice. Farewell.

NEW ADVENT: Home Search: Home Encyclopedia Summa Fathers Bible Library A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z -->Pope Leo Calls Bishops to Rome to Discuss Families, ‘Amoris Laetitia’ in October 100 Questions Jesus Asked and You Should Answer... Msgr. Charles Pope One of the bigger mistakes one can make is to read Scripture as a spectator, treating it as merely a collection of stories and events that took place thousands of years ago. While these are historical accounts, they are much more than that. Truth be told, these ancient stories are our stories. We are in the narrative. We are Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Deborah, Jeremiah, Ruth, Peter, Paul, Magdalene, Mother Mary... National Eucharistic Pilgrimage registration opens; schedule released... Rome’s Colosseum gets a fresh look that recreates the footprints of long-gone columns... We should take pleasure in working and resting kindly, in the ordinary things, in the this extraordinary home God has crafted for us... John Cuddeback Several principles that shape how I live I learned from Wendell Berry. He has an astounding share of common sense and an ability to cut through to what matters. He finds extraordinary beauty in the ordinary—often an ordinary that as a people we have set aside or lost. These days, ever darkening shadows in the world along with our own sufferings and those of the people closest to us can start to crush and overwhelm us... Lay Leader Who Criticized Cardinal Cupich Phased Out of Catholic Conference Board... Jonathan Liedl Nearly six months after publicly criticizing Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan to give a “lifetime achievement” award to a pro-abortion-rights senator, a long-serving lay member of the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) board of directors is being involuntarily phased out of his role. 100 Pop Songs Every Catholic Should Hear: ‘Ablaze’ by Alanis Morissette... Tim Clark This past month, my children had many occasions to hear me say things like, “Watch this!” and “Look at that!” In Virginia, the world was adorned in a frozen gown. And when something or someone is covered in white, it’s a sign to us that something awe-inspiring is happening. A baby is clothed with white in baptism. Little girls wear white gowns to receive their Lord for the first time in Holy Communion... Vatican Appeals Court Declares Mistrial in ‘Trial of the Century’ Against Cardinal Becciu... St. Patrick’s Breastplate and the Terrors of Mid-Lent... Elizabeth Scalia The effort is not confined to the season; in fits and starts I work at it during the year, but the task is always re-embraced in these dreary days when the weather goes fickle, and spring’s arrival seems like a trickster’s promise. Easter looks so far off, right now, because our Lenten practices, begun with such a sense of adventure and optimism... Pope Leo XIV to Accept Liberty Medal from Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center via Telecast on July 3... Pope Leo XIV Appeals for Ceasefire and Dialogue in Middle East War... Vatican Awaits Pope Leo’s Next Moves... Francis X. Rocca Lent at the Vatican this year feels like Advent in some ways, with the prevalent mood one of anticipation. People inside and around the institution are waiting, with varying degrees of curiosity and enthusiasm, for long-expected moves by Pope Leo XIV... This Sunday, Jesus Escaped Death Long Enough To Help Us See... Tom Hoopes Meeting God, really meeting him, makes life more beautiful, more noble, more exciting, and more fulfilling — but first it makes it harder. The two go together. Here are six takeaways for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A, drawn from Sunday Readings columns at this site. First: The cure of the man born blind comes at a rough time in Jesus’s life... Why Does John’s Gospel Not Mention the Institution of the Eucharist? The Triumph of Sentimentality in the Church of England... What St. Frances of Rome Saw in Heaven... Pope Leo Calls Father Pierre al-Rahi, Maronite Priest Killed in Lebanon, ‘a True Shepherd’... NBC Poll: Pope Leo XIV Held in Highest Esteem Among Public Personalities... Ontario Offers Death as a Same-Day Service... Why Was St. John Henry Newman Called ‘the Most Dangerous Man in England?’... Pope Leo XIV Warns of Wider Middle East Conflict, Prays to Our Lady ‘That the Thunderous Sound of Bombs May Cease’... Pope Leo XIV Appoints Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia as Apostolic Nuncio to the US... This Sunday, Jesus Meets Us at the Well To Give Us What We Are Missing... St. Longinus: The Centurion Who Pierced Christ’s Side... A Time to Build, Nice Things, and No Comment... What’s the Word for Forgetting Words? Is Conclave Secrecy Dead — and Does It Matter? Anthropic’s Break With the Pentagon Ignites AI Ethics Debate, Echoes Vatican Warnings... One Priest Can't Care For Thousands. So What Should A Parish Do? Dutch Museum Makes ‘Needle in a Haystack’ Confirmation of Rembrandt Painting... Striking the Rock: A Reflection on the Third Sunday of Lent... USCCB President Archbishop Coakley Issues Urgent Call for Peace in the Middle East... Where Do Bishops Come From? The Divinely Appointed Overseer... German Bishops to Ask Rome to Permit Lay Homilies... This Sunday, Lent Transfigures Us... Brazilian Archbishop Declares Schism and Excommunications, Says TLM Attendees ‘Don’t Deserve Name of Christians or Catholics’... US and Israel Launch Attack on Iran... The American Catholic Philosophical Association at 100... Christopher Kaczor In 1926, Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth II were born. President Calvin Coolidge was in the White House, Pope Pius XI was in the Vatican, and Babe Ruth was in the World Series, hitting three home runs in a single game. Also in 1926, Fr. Edward A. Pace founded the American Catholic Philosophical Association... Sin is the monster in the room. Suffering is our personal encounter with it... Fr. Jerry Pokorsky In 1510, Dominican friars arrived in Santo Domingo and refused absolution to colonists who would not repent of their exploitation of the Indians. The refusal was not cruelty; it was spiritual medicine. Among those shaken was Bartolomé de las Casas, a landowner whose estates relied on forced Indian labor... Watch: Robot plays tennis with humans, returns shots with 96% accuracy... What the Vatican court ruling means for papal sovereignty, and Cardinal Becciu... Ed Condon Finding that prosecutors had no right to redact the findings of their original investigation into the London property scandal, the judges ordered effectively an unusual trial-within-an-appeal, opening up the original investigation and charges to new litigation. But even more seismic... Pray for Gina, and the Florida Feast... J.D. Flynn The big news out of the Vatican this morning is a report claiming that the sprawling financial trial that convicted Cardinal Angelo Becciu has been “overturned,” and that judges have ordered a “new trial.” But we’re not so sure that’s the right way to put things, or that it reflects the reality of a complicated legal decision. At The Pillar this morning... At the Tomb of Lazarus: A Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent... Scott Hahn As we draw near to the end of Lent, today’s Gospel clearly has Jesus’ passion and death in view. That’s why John gives us the detail about Lazarus’ sister, Mary — that she is the one who anointed the Lord for burial. His disciples warn against returning to Judea; Thomas even predicts they will “die with Him” if they go back... Reports Emerge on Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical; La Repubblica Says Post-Easter Release Expected... Pope Leo Meets Gareth Gore, Author Urging Investigation of Opus Dei... Human or Divine? A Battle of the Wills... Marlon De La Torre One of the most fruitful challenges during the season of Lent, I argue, is the spiritual tension that develops between the desires of the human will versus assenting to the will of God. A reality of the journey toward spiritual discernment is the daily battle that ensues between following the will of God or ignoring it altogether for one’s own desires of the will... From Doo-Wop to Doctrine: Rock Legend Dion’s Musical Friendship With Mike Aquilina... Pope Questions Christians’ Role in Wars, Implies Need for Confession... Missed Masses, Marquesses, and Mullets... St. Gregory of Nazianzus Warns: Don’t Think Too Highly of Yourself... David Mills Don’t care about who gives you the sacraments of the Church, said the bishop. Don’t demand a cleric of high status in the Church and in society, because you think an everyday cleric from an average family isn’t good enough for someone of your high status. Don’t reject a priest unless you think he’s holy enough, because you think you’ll be sullied by receiving the sacraments from an average sinner... Pope Leo XIV Names Benedictine from St. Meinrad’s as Bishop of Belleville in Illinois... Death Is Not The End: Remembering Francis Bergsma... Faith and Science Are Not Enemies — and Young People Need to Hear It... Cardinal Mathieu, Archbishop of Tehran, Evacuated From Iran to Rome... Why Does Jesus Weep at the Tomb of Lazarus? Why Are Swiss Bishops Doubling Down on Mandatory Psych Screening? A 5-year-old boy was left alone in a hospital on the day of his heart surgery. His anesthesiologist adopted him... A Purgatorial Procession... A Confession of the Legendary Lou Holtz... Chaldean Bishop Shaleta Arrested at San Diego Airport on Charges of Embezzlement, Money Laundering... 4 Ways Pope Leo XIV Is the Augustinian Pope... Pope Leo XIV Announces March Prayer Intention: ‘For Disarmament and Peace’... St. John Vianney Said a Good Priest Could Lead 1,000 Souls to Heaven. I Think He Underestimated... The Cardinal of Penzance, and Camp Commandments... Treetops Emit Ultraviolet Sparkles During Thunderstorms. Researchers Just Filmed It in Nature for the First Time... Vatican Synod Study Group Warns of Online Polarization... Toy Story and AI Toys — Disney to the Rescue? Sin Is Not an Abstraction... New Israeli Land Reforms Raise Fears Among West Bank Christians... Every Round Goes Higher: A Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent... How to Write Well — and Why... Pope Leo XIV’s Sunday Angelus: ‘Only Peace, a Gift of God, Can Heal the Wounds Between Peoples’... The Secret Sauce That Keeps Parish Fish Fries Afloat... Get this entire Catholic website as an instant digital download... The full contents of the New Advent website are available as a digital download. It includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — and it's only $19.99... The Complete List of Popes Click here to see the list of 133 cardinal electors (“WHO WILL BE THE NEXT POPE?”) that appeared in this space before the May 8 election of Pope Leo XIV. St. Peter (32-67) St. Linus (67-76) St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88) St. Clement I (88-97) St. Evaristus (97-105) St. Alexander I (105-115) St. Sixtus I (115-125) St. Telesphorus (125-136) St. Hyginus (136-140) St. Pius I (140-155) St. Anicetus (155-166) St. Soter (166-175) St. Eleutherius (175-189) St. Victor I (189-199) St. Zephyrinus (199-217) St. Callistus I (217-22) St. Urban I (222-30) St. Pontian (230-35) St. Anterus (235-36) St. Fabian (236-50) St. Cornelius (251-53) St. Lucius I (253-54) St. Stephen I (254-257) St. Sixtus II (257-258) St. Dionysius (260-268) St. Felix I (269-274) St. Eutychian (275-283) St. Caius (283-296) St. Marcellinus (296-304) St. Marcellus I (308-309) St. Eusebius (309 or 310) St. Miltiades (311-14) St. Sylvester I (314-35) St. Marcus (336) St. Julius I (337-52) Liberius (352-66) St. Damasus I (366-84) St. Siricius (384-99) St. Anastasius I (399-401) St. Innocent I (401-17) St. Zosimus (417-18) St. Boniface I (418-22) St. Celestine I (422-32) St. Sixtus III (432-40) St. Leo I (the Great) (440-61) St. Hilarius (461-68) St. Simplicius (468-83) St. Felix III (II) (483-92) St. Gelasius I (492-96) Anastasius II (496-98) St. Symmachus (498-514) St. Hormisdas (514-23) St. John I (523-26) St. Felix IV (III) (526-30) Boniface II (530-32) John II (533-35) St. Agapetus I (535-36) St. Silverius (536-37) Vigilius (537-55) Pelagius I (556-61) John III (561-74) Benedict I (575-79) Pelagius II (579-90) St. Gregory I (the Great) (590-604) Sabinian (604-606) Boniface III (607) St. Boniface IV (608-15) St. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I) (615-18) Boniface V (619-25) Honorius I (625-38) Severinus (640) John IV (640-42) Theodore I (642-49) St. Martin I (649-55) St. Eugene I (655-57) St. Vitalian (657-72) Adeodatus (II) (672-76) Donus (676-78) St. Agatho (678-81) St. Leo II (682-83) St. Benedict II (684-85) John V (685-86) Conon (686-87) St. Sergius I (687-701) John VI (701-05) John VII (705-07) Sisinnius (708) Constantine (708-15) St. Gregory II (715-31) St. Gregory III (731-41) St. Zachary (741-52) Stephen II (III) (752-57) St. Paul I (757-67) Stephen III (IV) (767-72) Adrian I (772-95) St. Leo III (795-816) Stephen IV (V) (816-17) St. Paschal I (817-24) Eugene II (824-27) Valentine (827) Gregory IV (827-44) Sergius II (844-47) St. Leo IV (847-55) Benedict III (855-58) St. Nicholas I (the Great) (858-67) Adrian II (867-72) John VIII (872-82) Marinus I (882-84) St. Adrian III (884-85) Stephen V (VI) (885-91) Formosus (891-96) Boniface VI (896) Stephen VI (VII) (896-97) Romanus (897) Theodore II (897) John IX (898-900) Benedict IV (900-03) Leo V (903) Sergius III (904-11) Anastasius III (911-13) Lando (913-14) John X (914-28) Leo VI (928) Stephen VIII (929-31) John XI (931-35) Leo VII (936-39) Stephen IX (939-42) Marinus II (942-46) Agapetus II (946-55) John XII (955-63) Leo VIII (963-64) Benedict V (964) John XIII (965-72) Benedict VI (973-74) Benedict VII (974-83) John XIV (983-84) John XV (985-96) Gregory V (996-99) Sylvester II (999-1003) John XVII (1003) John XVIII (1003-09) Sergius IV (1009-12) Benedict VIII (1012-24) John XIX (1024-32) Benedict IX (1032-45) Sylvester III (1045) Benedict IX (1045) Gregory VI (1045-46) Clement II (1046-47) Benedict IX (1047-48) Damasus II (1048) St. Leo IX (1049-54) Victor II (1055-57) Stephen X (1057-58) Nicholas II (1058-61) Alexander II (1061-73) St. Gregory VII (1073-85) Blessed Victor III (1086-87) Blessed Urban II (1088-99) Paschal II (1099-1118) Gelasius II (1118-19) Callistus II (1119-24) Honorius II (1124-30) Innocent II (1130-43) Celestine II (1143-44) Lucius II (1144-45) Blessed Eugene III (1145-53) Anastasius IV (1153-54) Adrian IV (1154-59) Alexander III (1159-81) Lucius III (1181-85) Urban III (1185-87) Gregory VIII (1187) Clement III (1187-91) Celestine III (1191-98) Innocent III (1198-1216) Honorius III (1216-27) Gregory IX (1227-41) Celestine IV (1241) Innocent IV (1243-54) Alexander IV (1254-61) Urban IV (1261-64) Clement IV (1265-68) Blessed Gregory X (1271-76) Blessed Innocent V (1276) Adrian V (1276) John XXI (1276-77) Nicholas III (1277-80) Martin IV (1281-85) Honorius IV (1285-87) Nicholas IV (1288-92) St. Celestine V (1294) Boniface VIII (1294-1303) Blessed Benedict XI (1303-04) Clement V (1305-14) John XXII (1316-34) Benedict XII (1334-42) Clement VI (1342-52) Innocent VI (1352-62) Blessed Urban V (1362-70) Gregory XI (1370-78) Urban VI (1378-89) Boniface IX (1389-1404) Innocent VII (1404-06) Gregory XII (1406-15) Martin V (1417-31) Eugene IV (1431-47) Nicholas V (1447-55) Callistus III (1455-58) Pius II (1458-64) Paul II (1464-71) Sixtus IV (1471-84) Innocent VIII (1484-92) Alexander VI (1492-1503) Pius III (1503) Julius II (1503-13) Leo X (1513-21) Adrian VI (1522-23) Clement VII (1523-34) Paul III (1534-49) Julius III (1550-55) Marcellus II (1555) Paul IV (1555-59) Pius IV (1559-65) St. Pius V (1566-72) Gregory XIII (1572-85) Sixtus V (1585-90) Urban VII (1590) Gregory XIV (1590-91) Innocent IX (1591) Clement VIII (1592-1605) Leo XI (1605) Paul V (1605-21) Gregory XV (1621-23) Urban VIII (1623-44) Innocent X (1644-55) Alexander VII (1655-67) Clement IX (1667-69) Clement X (1670-76) Blessed Innocent XI (1676-89) Alexander VIII (1689-91) Innocent XII (1691-1700) Clement XI (1700-21) Innocent XIII (1721-24) Benedict XIII (1724-30) Clement XII (1730-40) Benedict XIV (1740-58) Clement XIII (1758-69) Clement XIV (1769-74) Pius VI (1775-99) Pius VII (1800-23) Leo XII (1823-29) Pius VIII (1829-30) Gregory XVI (1831-46) Blessed Pius IX (1846-78) Leo XIII (1878-1903) St. Pius X (1903-14) Benedict XV (1914-22)Pius XI (1922-39)Pius XII (1939-58)St. John XXIII (1958-63)St. Paul VI (1963-78)John Paul I (1978)St. John Paul II (1978-2005)Benedict XVI (2005-2013)Francis (2013-2025) Leo XIV (2025—) Copyright © 2026 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Contact Us | Advertise with New Advent