Can a psychopath misuse the sacrament of confession? According to human ethics, is this justified?

I’m not exactly sure what sort of situation this question is envisioning, but I can tell you that anybody is capable of misusing the sacrament of Confession, not just a psychopath. There are several ways that one can abuse Confession, but perhaps the two most common ways would be (1) going to Confession and intentionally not confessing a mortal sin, and (2) committing a mortal sin and going to Confession without any contrition at all (even imperfect contrition). The first case is known as sacrilege and the second is called presumption–and both are serious sins.

Returning to the question, we can see then how a psychopath might abuse the sacrament of Confession. Let’s say we’re talking about a serial killer who has committed murder and goes to Confession to be absolved. Even in the case of such a terrible crime as mass murder, the Lord will forgive that person if there is real contrition. I imagine it would be a very difficult Confession for a priest to hear! Nevertheless, the Lord’s mercy is far greater than anything we could imagine, and even the greatest of sins are not greater than God’s mercy–even for a psychopath.

But let’s say that, as a psychopath (or a sociopath), this person feels absolutely no remorse for his sins. Let’s say he’s just going to Confession to give the appearance of being sorry, or he goes to Confession but never actually confesses these sins. This would be a clear abuse of the sacrament, which itself would be a sin and is not justifiable.

What is perhaps most remarkable, however, is that we do have historical examples of widely-known public sinners who did experience a powerful conversion and go to Confession. One powerful example is of Rudolf Hoss, who was called “the Commandant of Auschwitz” and an “animal.” He was personally responsible for the deaths of over one million people in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. These were deaths by gas chamber, torture, cremation, experimentation, and starvation. He oversaw one operation that executed 430,000 Hungarian Jews in less than two months. His actions, by all accounts, placed him among the worst of humanity. When Hoss was captured after the war, he admitted to his war crimes and was condemned. He did not fear his execution, but he greatly feared imprisonment–especially at the hands of the Polish, many of whose people died by his hand. He knew he would be tortured in the days leading to his execution.

When he was sent to the Polish prison, however, Hoss encountered something that shocked him more than any torture: kindness. For all the atrocities he had committed, the prison guards treated him with humanity and dignity. This shook Hoss to his core and, mere months before his scheduled execution, he came to see that the ideology upon which he had built his life was entirely flawed. He renounced his belief in the Nazi ideology and on April 4th, 1947, Good Friday, Hoss asked to see a Catholic priest. Six days later, Hoss confessed to a priest. The next day, Hoss received Holy Communion, knelt in his cell, and cried. He was executed just days later, completely calm, having rediscovered his faith in God.

This is God’s unimaginable mercy! For those with a sincere heart, there is no sin too great for God to forgive; nobody in the world is beyond saving. For those without a sincere heart, however, forgiveness is difficult to receive indeed.