AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
June 13, 2018
By Matthew Doran
The Catholic Church is holding firm against calls to lift the veil of secrecy on confession amid calls from victims and advocates to force priests to report alleged abusers.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered the Federal Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse in Canberra on Wednesday.
Last year 122 recommendations were delivered to the government, including calls to throw out the sanctity of the confessional.
In a statement posted to YouTube, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President, Archbishop Mark Coleridge dismissed those demands.
“The church doesn’t want to protect criminals, it wants children to be safe from them,” he said.
“And the church wants measures that really make environments safer for children.
“But there’s nothing to suggest that legal abolition of the seal will help in that regard.”
That has outraged advocates of abuse victims, who believe the church is simply trying to shield alleged abusers.
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