AUSTRALIA
BBC News
By Hywel Griffith
BBC News, Sydney
An Australian child abuse survivor has called on the Catholic Church to reform its laws on confession to ensure crimes are reported to police.
Peter Gogarty said perpetrators knew anything disclosed in confession would not be revealed to authorities.
He told the BBC it was effectively a “get-out-of-jail-free card”.
It follows the final public hearings in an Australian inquiry, which has heard evidence of abusers confessing knowing their actions would not be divulged.
The issue of mandatory reporting has split Australia’s Catholic Church, with archbishops differing on whether information given by a child victim during confession should be relayed to police.
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