Vatican warns against attempts to limit secrecy of sacrament of confession

The Holy See’s Apostolic Penitentiary, a tribunal dealing with absolution and confessional matters, reiterated the secrecy obligation for clergy in a six-page document approved by the pope and made public on Monday.

For years now, the Catholic church has been besieged by lawsuits and other civil actions and targeted by prosecutors, including in the United States, aimed at obtaining justice for children and other victims of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-up by many pastors and bishops.

Some have suggested that the secrecy of confession could be problematic in tackling the problem.

“Every political or legislative initiative aimed at ‘forcing’ the inviolability of the sacramental seal would constitute an unacceptable offence against the freedom of the church, which doesn’t receive its very legitimisation from any single country but from God,” the document said.

Such initiatives would also violate religious freedom, it asserted.

In a written comment on the document, Tribunal head Cardinal Mauro Piacenza cautioned against interpreting the statement as any slackening in Pope Francis’ recently reiterated resolve to combat clergy sex abuse and cover-ups by superiors.

“It’s opportune to make clear that the text of the statement cannot and doesn’t want to be in any way a justification or a form of tolerance of the abhorrent cases of abuse perpetrated by members…