AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Register
John Power
MELBOURNE, Australia — A far-reaching national inquiry into institutional child sex abuse in the Church in Australia is fueling debate on whether the law should be changed to force priests to divulge information received in the confessional.
The ongoing Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been examining what role, if any, the seal of confession played in the cover-up of child sex abuse within the Church, as well as issues such as celibacy, priest selection and Church governance.
The scrutiny of the sacrament comes after the commission sent shockwaves throughout the Church and Australian society last month by revealing that 7% of priests who worked between 1950 and 2009 had been accused of child sex crimes.
Since the royal commission’s establishment, politicians, including former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, have argued that priests should have to report information they receive about child sex abuse, even if it means breaking the confessional seal, considered inviolable under canon law.
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