Posted on 08/17/2017 7:40:46 PM PDT by marshmallow
Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia said that he would go to jail rather than obey a law requiring him to divulge the contents of a sacramental confession.
The archbishop was responding to a recommendation from the royal commission on sexual abuse, which had urged Australian states to implement new laws requiring priests to disclose reports of sexual abuse that they heard in confessions.
Archbishop Hart stressed that the Church could not accept such legislation. “I believe that this is an absolutely sacrosanct communication of the highest order,” he said. He added that he would “go to extreme lengths outside the confessional” to ensure that sexual abuse is reported to proper authorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
He is absolutely correct here. The seal of the confessional is sacrosanct.
I have not thoroughly researched the subject but I have read that confidentiality for lawyers and their clients came from and was modeled after the seal of the confessional. If one goes then so will the other. Included will be conversations between doctors and patients.
Exactly correct. Something heard in the confessional would be the most hopeless sort of hear say evidence. It could never last long in court. But this demand is being made of the Catholic Church, as part of a hostile media campaign in Australia.
Any priest that isn’t should have his faculties removed, be “laicized,” as it were.
The penalty is already an automatic excommunication.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.