Question 44: Does the Pope go to Confession?

Answer: As pope? no; as man? yes. This is not a distinction without a difference, as there is no official, economic, or social status in the confessional. All are equal therein, in the sense that we are all sinners, including the man who is pope. It is my understanding that the present Holy Father, confesses at least weekly.

Protestant misunderstanding, for instance regarding the infallibility of the pope, is often due to failure to discriminate between the official and the man. As pope, the official occupant of the Chair of St. Peter, the Catholic Church holds him to be Divinely protected from error, when defining matters of faith and morals. As a man, he is capable of sinning. Hence the man goes to confession, not the pope.