As the Church grapples with the crisis of sexual abuse of minors, many countries and states have called into question the validity of the legal exemption for the seal of Confession.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him,” (1467).
Here is an overview of the legal developments in the past few weeks and months concerning secular legislature development that conflict with this sacramental seal.
California
As in many states, priests take on the role of “mandated reporters” along with teachers, coaches, and other adult leaders who have contact with minors. They are legally obligated to report any notice of child neglect or abuse to the authorities. In California, like most states, the exception to this law was for “penitential communication” –– Confession, for Catholics.
California Senate Bill 360 proposed to drop this exception, and it passed the state senate in May with a vote of 30-2. However, after a Public Safety Committee report, the bill was dropped on July 8 in reaction to an infringement of the First Amendment.
Many clergy, including Bishop Robert Barron, spoke openly about opting for prison over breaking the seal, if the bill were to pass. Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland released a statement saying, “I will go to jail before I will obey this attack on our religious freedom. Even if this bill passes, no priest may obey it.”
Australia
At the end of March, an updated mandatory reporting law was passed in the Australian Capital Territory. This follows the advice of a 2017 report by the Australian Royal Commission concerning responses to child abuse, which recommended that the Church change laws about reporting child sexual abuse from the confessional.
Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn recognized the gravity of the issue, but also upheld the teaching of the Church, stating, “In the unlikely case of unreported child abuse being disclosed during confession, priests will, without breaching the Seal of Confession, take the opportunity to encourage and assist the person to report to civil authorities.”
The attorney general of Australia’s capital territory, Gordon Ramsey, defended the cause, saying, “there’s no justification for any excuses” for an institution not to implement the new law.
Breaking this law results in a sentence of up to three years in jail if the mandated reporter opts not to report to authorities–– whereas in the Church, breaking the seal of confession can result in a priest being removed from the clerical state.
The United Kingdom
In the UK, the Independent Inquiry in Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has most recently brought the subject matter of the seal and protection of minors back into the news this November.
“I would defend the Seal of Confession absolutely,” Vincent Cardinal Nichols, the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, told the IICSA. “The history of the Catholic Church has a number of people who’ve been put to death in defense of the Seal of Confession. It might come to that.”
Cardinal Nichols asked IISCA to think carefully before instituting a mandatory reporting law like the one in Australia.
Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth explained, “In the administration of this sacrament, the priest stands in persona Christi––he ‘merely’ facilitates the sacred communication between the penitent and God: any information he hears does not belong to him and so is not his to reveal.”
Cardinal Nichols stated that even if legal action were to be taken, the Church in England and Wales will “reject all attempts to compel priests to break the seal of confession.”
The Vatican’s Response
In response to multiple countries trying to impose laws on confession for the safety of children, the Apostolic Penitentiary released a “Note on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the Sacramental Seal” in late June, shortly before the California bill was dropped.
The statement acknowledges the severity of the crisis surrounding sexual abuse of minors, as well as the need to preserve the sacramental privilege of secrecy between priest and penitent.
According to canon law, a priest who violates this secrecy for any reason faces excommunication and potential loss of the clerical state.
Pope Francis stated, “The internal forum is an internal forum, and it cannot go ‘outside.’ It is a sin against the dignity of the person who trusts the priest, and who expresses his or own situation to ask for forgiveness.”
Previously the Campus News Editor and Catholicism 101 Editor, Olivia dabbles in The Torch’s writing and photography. She is a senior studying theology and applied psychology and human development with a minor in journalism. She is unashamedly passionate about youth ministry, Haiti, all things charismatic, the Oxford comma, and CatholicTV––where she can often be found as an on-camera news reporter or host of the To the Heights podcast.
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