Let me bluntly ask you this question: if your wife were raped, and did not want to press charges, did not want any publicity, and did not want to talk to the police -- would you report the rape anyway, in violation of her wishes?
If I'm an officer of the court, do I have a choice?
Besides, if my wife could for even a moment be so irrational or selfish, it would quickly pass. We are one flesh.
As an officer of various courts I think you can probably expercise discretion in this respect. I can tell you that were my wife raped I would want to report it and go after the SOB, one way or the other. However, I would not fear being prosecuted for failing to do so.
No DA is that heartless that he would prosecute the husband of a raped wife just because he didn't report it. Nor would any court take disciplinary action. The couple has suffered enough. Pedophilia is another matter, but even there I can't see prosecuting the parents for failing to report it. To be honest these types of laws are more often used to go after people who were allied with the perp. in some fashion. Say you were part of a ring that exchanged pictures of little boys and one of the members started bragging about raping one of them, or you had pictures of the act. That is the type of scenario where this usually gets used. All that said, or course, it could be applied much more broadly.
patent
I think it would depend on a lot of circumstances. How detailed is the account? Are there facts in it that I can verify independently? Would this altar boy, though I think him trustworthy, have any incentive to lie?
I also don't know what standards of proof ecclesiastical courts use. They're based on Roman law, not Anglo-American law.
: If I'm an officer of the court, do I have a choice?
Probably not, if you want to follow the law. I'm not convinced you do under any circumstances, if you want to follow the letter of the law. My point was that the victim's wishes, even if thought irrational by a third party, deserve consideration.