Dear Jenna:

The Church teaches that in Confession we must confess the kind and number of our sins. It is not required to get into details unless those details are important to the character of the sin.

Thus, in most situations one may say something like, "Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I have viewed pornography 12 times since my last confession."

We need to be sure that we are confessing all of our sin. For example, I am reminded of the story of a man who came to confession and said, "Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I stole a rope. I was uncharitable to my mother. I stole a rope. I had impure thoughts about my neighbor, I stole a rope."

The priest finally asked, "What is this about the rope?"

The man said, "Well, there was a cow attached."

In confessing the sin of looking at pornography, there is most likely a few other sins that went along with it such as "lustful imaginations" and "masturbation." Lustful imaginations is certainly part of the sin even if one did not masturbate.

You must examine your conscience to decide if you need to be more explicit on the "kind" of pornography. For example, if the pornography was homosexual in nature one may also include, "for  lustful imaginations about homosexuality." Other possibilities might be "for lustful imaginations about bestiality (rape) (sado-masochism)."

This level of specifics aids in being healed of these perverted imaginations.

A clue that perhaps one ought to be more specific is if you do not wish to reveal the specific information.

The bottom line is to confess kind and number. Give more details if it is needed or the priest asks you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary