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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

Will my sin be forgiven if I don’t feel sorry?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

I want to confess an obvious sin, but I do not feel remorse or regret for doing it. Do I need to be regretful to confess this sin or will it be forgiven even if I have no remorse?

Answer:

What is required is repentance, which is an act of the will. Remorse and regret are emotions, which you may or may not feel and do not have control over. Feelings of remorse and regret are not required, but they are helpful in keeping us from sinning again. One way to encourage such feelings is to develop a devotion to Christ’s Passion. Meditation on the agonies Christ suffered to merit for us the grace we receive through confession helps in developing a horror for sin and a just remorse for the sins of one’s life.

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