Can seal of confession ever be broken

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ByzCath said:
Keeping things secret that should be kept secret. Not participating in gossip. These are not “superhuman” feats.
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What you have said my not be, but going to prison for contempt of court for not breaking the seal; being tortured for not breaking the seal; losing one’s life for not breaking the seal are superhuman feats in my humble opinion. And, being human, and hearing about some of the horrors that they must hear, and not being able to do anything about it is superhuman IMHO.

I believe the seal is one of the greatest gifts we have that many do not fully understand or appreciate for if they did the lines would be much much longer outside the confessional.

Just my $0.02
 
Matthew_Holford said:
OK it could be broken. However, the OP was not asking: is a Catholic priest capable of going in to his local pub and gossiping about what he’s heard in confession. They were asking: are there any circumstances in which a priest might reveal what he’s heard in confession, e.g. bringing something to his bishop’s attention. If you knew this I don’t understand why you found it necessary to post such a hair-splitting matter. It probably is not too necessary to have the canonical penalties; I’m sure most priests keep the seal because they believe that’s what should be done not because of the existence of penalties. There is no reason why keeping the seal of the confession needs to be difficult for priests. In my job I am privy to a lot of confidential information and am quite capable of maintaining that confidentiality.
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Matthew, if you go back and read my post #14, my intent was not to split hairs for the sake of splitting hairs or to turn this into an English lesson but to make it clear to the OP that we are talking about something that can be done yet is not done because of the grace, honor and holiness of these ordinary men with an extraordinary calling.
 
ByzCath said:
No there are no circumstance in which the seal can be broken. This includes the penitents permission.

That is, the priest can not break the seal even if the penitent says its okay to do so.
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So, with this in mind, would it be a sin for a Priest to say something vague in a talk like, “In my X amount of years as a Priest, I have heard sexual sins in the confessional many times”?
 
ATeutonicKnight said:
So, with this in mind, would it be a sin for a Priest to say something vague in a talk like, “In my X amount of years as a Priest, I have heard sexual sins in the confessional many times”?
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No. It would not. The reason is that the priest is not revealing anyone’s sin. He isn’t saying “this person committed this sin” --not even indirectly.

Also, the priest isn’t “revealing” anything that isn’t already well-known. It’s hardly a secret that human beings commit sins against the 6th Commandment, therefore it’s hardly a secret to say that these sins are being confessed.
 
custardcream said:
thank you all very much for your replies. i was reading something the other day which said in certain circumstances it can be broken which confused me as i always thought it couldnt be broken.

thanks and God bless
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Please share exactly what you mean by the question. Without understanding what you mean by saying “in certain circumstances it can be broken” it’s difficult to interpret your question. You might be making a reference to something which is actually not violating the Seal, and that might be the cause for confusion.
if someone confesses to something they might do is this still bound by the seal?
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Anything said in confession is protected by the Seal.
 
thanks again for all the replies. i will try and find where i read it and post it in another post, i found it when i was doing a search on the internet. it was basically saying that someone confessed to intending to do harm to 2 teenage sisters, the priest let the police know in as little detail as possible that the girls could be in danger and the police tracked them down before anything could happen. i feel i have gone very offtrack with my thread and i apologise to everyone, i was worried about a confession i made awhile back when i was confessing some major sins, one sin in particular i had to mention someone else (but i didnt name the person) , this other person didnt do anything wrong, it was me that was completely in the wrong but i am afraid i didnt make this clear enough in my confession and the priest may now know who i was talking about. i am worrying that perhaps could the priest bring this to the other persons attention or mention it to another priest or bishop to get more advice if he thinks the other person was involved? my sin had nothing to do with harming anyone but i dont exactly want to post what it was and i am very sorry if i am still too vague with my question.

thank you all.
 
custardcream said:
thanks again for all the replies. i will try and find where i read it and post it in another post, i found it when i was doing a search on the internet. it was basically saying that someone confessed to intending to do harm to 2 teenage sisters, the priest let the police know in as little detail as possible that the girls could be in danger and the police tracked them down before anything could happen. i feel i have gone very offtrack with my thread and i apologise to everyone, i was worried about a confession i made awhile back when i was confessing some major sins, one sin in particular i had to mention someone else (but i didnt name the person) , this other person didnt do anything wrong, it was me that was completely in the wrong but i am afraid i didnt make this clear enough in my confession and the priest may now know who i was talking about. i am worrying that perhaps could the priest bring this to the other persons attention or mention it to another priest or bishop to get more advice if he thinks the other person was involved? my sin had nothing to do with harming anyone but i dont exactly want to post what it was and i am very sorry if i am still too vague with my question.

thank you all.
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The priest is NOT allowed under ANY circumstances to divulge ANY part of ANYTHING that is said to him in the sacrament of confession. The Seal of Confession is ABSOLUTE.
The priest in your situation is NOT allowed to bring anything to the attention of the other person or mention it to ANYONE ELSE at all.

(Capitals are for emphasis, not yelling.)
 
A priest cannot break the seal of confession, not even to save his own life.
 
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