Confessional secret no defence for Belgian priest in suicide case

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian court ruled that a Roman Catholic priest cannot use the secrecy of confession as a defence when it convicted a clergyman in Bruges on Monday of failing to seek help for a man who went on to commit suicide.
Alexander Stroobandt was contacted by a man who was battling depression. The priest exchanged several phone calls and text messages with the man, whom he knew. But the man went on to kill himself by piping engine exhaust fumes into his car.

The man’s wife subsequently heard of the contact with the priest and lodged a complaint with prosecutors, whose view was that everyone, without exception, had to help in an emergency.
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https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-b...-belgian-priest-in-suicide-case-idUKKBN1OG1TM
 
The seal of the confession does not extend to electronic communications like phone calls and text messages.
 
Right. If the priest were having telephone calls and text messages with someone, then obviously something other than confession was going on. Believe me, I’d much prefer it if I could get absolved via text message, but I don’t think it’s happening in my lifetime.
 
If he is exchanging tests and phone calls with this person then I suspect that that is out of the range of what qualifies as confession.
 
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