The priest hears the confession of some morally corupt act, say nothing to anyone, lets the victim continue to suffer, and under the man made rule absolves the person of his sin.
How thoughful of man to design a rule in order to help God out with his busy schedule while letting the victim suffer.
I'm sure God is delighted with this arrangement.
Would you have the priest forced to testify as to the confessions of an adulterous husband whose divorcing wife fears that she may have been exposed to AIDS? Would you have the priest forced to testify as to the businessman's embezzlement of funds from his employer? If the government sees fit to pass laws requiring the breach of confidentiality of the confessional, priests should be prepared for martyrdom rather than comply. The First Amendment protects against this sort of invasion by Caesar of the things that are God's.
Radical secular forces would like nothing more than the eradication of the confidentiality of the confessional as a first step toward what they wrongly anticipate would be the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church here. Those who are not Catholic, and particularly Bible-believing Christians whose theological beliefs separate them strongly from some Roman beliefs, would do well to mull the implications of this argument. If the Roman Catholic Church can be successfully persecuted by the governments, state and local, in spite of its status as by far the largest single denomination in the country, there will be no protection for any other faith. We will fight. Will you fight at our side against common secularist enemies? Will you fight along with us in defense of the First Amendment?