Addicted to sin?
Sometimes the priest must delay or refuse absolution after 3 or 4 confessions show no real repentance, reform of life.

Sad but true.

Jesus tells His first Catholic priests in St. John 20:23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Moral Theology by

McHugh and Callan....

2760. Penitents to Whom Absolution Should Be Denied.—

There are three classes of penitents especially to whom absolution should be frequently denied on account of their lack of repentance:

(a) those who refuse to abandon a proximate and voluntary occasion of grave sin, for these are impenitent and unworthy of absolution. But absolution may be given those who promise to abandon a proximate and voluntary occasion, or to use the proper means of safety if they are in a proximate and necessary occasion of sin (see 263 sqq.);

(b) those who have contracted the habit of some grave sin, if they are unwilling to use the proper means to overcome it; but if they seriously promise to use means prescribed by the confessor, they should be considered as well disposed.

A sin is habitual when it is committed often—that is, for an external sin about five times a month, and for an internal sin about five times a week-and when the sinner acts for the proper motive of the vice, e.g., in injustice for disorder, in intemperance for pleasure of the sense, in sins against charity out of hatred, etc.

But consideration should be taken also of the character of the person (i.e., a weak-willed person is enslaved by habit more readily than a strong-willed person) and of the vice (i.e., an alluring sin like impurity becomes a habit more quickly than other sins);

(c) those backsliders or recidivists who have confessed the same grave sin in three or four previous confessions and have relapsed into it again without any improvement. These persons should be absolved if they are sincere now and give some special indication as proof of sincerity (e.g., some effort made to conquer their habit); otherwise (except in great necessity, when they may be given the benefit of the doubt and be granted conditional absolution) they should not be absolved but should be put off kindly for a short space, since there is no reason to believe that the present sorrow is any better than that of the past.