Australia: pressure mounts to break confessional seal

November 16, 2012

Australian editorial writers have stepped up the pressure on Church leaders to discard the confessional seal in cases of sexual abuse.

Claiming that the seal may protect abusers—a proposition for which no evidence has been produced—pundits argued that a federal investigative commission should force priests to disclose the content of confessions, and suggested that the Church should voluntarily set aside the seal.

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, who has said that the seal is inviolable, has been a particular target of criticism. The cardinal’s direct and sometimes combative style makes him an easy target, some critics observed.

In his own comments on the uproar, Cardinal Pell said that sex-abuse reports “filled me with horror.” He said that he was “ashamed” of involvement of Catholic priests in abuse. “I am not interested in denying the extent of wrongdoing in the Catholic Church,” he said.

Nevertheless, the cardinal repeated: “the seal of Confession is inviolable.” He added that Australian law clearly respects the seal, and any assault on the seal is an assault on religious freedom.

Australia’s leading Anglican prelate, Archbishop Phillip Aspinwall of Queensland, complicated matters by saying that the confessional seal does not prevent priests from reporting abuse. Cardinal Pell has been at pains to point out that priests can and should report any abuse that comes to their attention outside the confessional.

 

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Further information:

• Pell and Abbott to end up targets (Canberra Times)
• Church respects the law of the land, and the act of Confession (Brisbane Times)
• Priests 'can report child abuse': Anglican leader Phillip Aspinall (The Australian)
• People before principles (The Courier)