Confidentiality of Confession

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I understand that everything that is confessed to a priest must be kept confidential by the priest. Is there ever a situation where a priest is required by law to reveal a person’s confession, e.g. to help a murder investigation? Or does the Church require that every confession be kept confidential by the priest in every situation?
 
blamison said:
I understand that everything that is confessed to a priest must be kept confidential by the priest. Is there ever a situation where a priest is required by law to reveal a person’s confession, e.g. to help a murder investigation? Or does the Church require that every confession be kept confidential by the priest in every situation?
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A priest cannot violate the sanctity of the confessional, EVER, no matter what the circumstance.

You should check out the Hitchcock movie I Confess. It’s about a priest who hears the confession of a man who murdered another, and later the priest is accused of committing the murder in question. :eek: It’s a riveting story.
 
blamison said:
I understand that everything that is confessed to a priest must be kept confidential by the priest. Is there ever a situation where a priest is required by law to reveal a person’s confession, e.g. to help a murder investigation? Or does the Church require that every confession be kept confidential by the priest in every situation?
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The short answers: No. Yes. The longer answers:
  1. The sacramental seal is covered by Canons 983 and 984:
    §1. "The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.§2. The interpreter, if there is one, and all others who in any way have knowledge of sins from confession are also obliged to observe secrecy."Can. 984 §1. A confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded.Note that it is more than just “tell someone what was said”. The seal obligates the priest not to betray the penitent in any manner for any reason and it also applies to anyone who may overhear anyone else’s confession.
From a secular standpoint, I believe that the seal is considered in the same category as the attorney-client relationship in that the court cannot order the information to be divulged (legal type folks feel free to jump in if I am mistaken.)
  1. Penalties for violating the seal are covered under Canon 1388:Can. 1388 §1. A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; one who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the delict.
 
blamison said:
I understand that everything that is confessed to a priest must be kept confidential by the priest. Is there ever a situation where a priest is required by law to reveal a person’s confession, e.g. to help a murder investigation? Or does the Church require that every confession be kept confidential by the priest in every situation?
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Yes the priest may NEVER disclose the content of a Sacramental Confession, under ANY circumstances.
 
The priest also is not obligated to give absolution until penance is completed. That penance could be “turning yourself into the police”!

I’m I right on that Br. Rich?
 
pyropam said:
The priest also is not obligated to give absolution until penance is completed. That penance could be “turning yourself into the police”!

I’m I right on that Br. Rich?
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No, Absolution cannot be conditional on truning one’s self in.
 
blamison said:
I understand that everything that is confessed to a priest must be kept confidential by the priest. Is there ever a situation where a priest is required by law to reveal a person’s confession, e.g. to help a murder investigation? Or does the Church require that every confession be kept confidential by the priest in every situation?
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Priests have died rather than tell.
 
wanner47 said:
A priest cannot violate the sanctity of the confessional, EVER, no matter what the circumstance.

You should check out the Hitchcock movie I Confess. It’s about a priest who hears the confession of a man who murdered another, and later the priest is accused of committing the murder in question. :eek: It’s a riveting story.
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And the movie The Rosary Murders - starring Donald Sutherland as a priest who hears the confession of a serial killer. It’s a real good indepth look at what the seal of the confessional actually involves.
 
Although a priest can never report a crime to the police, in a case such as murder, I think the priest is obligated to encourage the person to turn themself in to the police.

Part of the penance should be to right the wrong as much as possible, i.e., apologize to the person you offened if you said or treated someone poorly.
 
A priest can never, ever reveal what is said in a confession. This includes anyone who ever happens to overhear a confession, an interpreter, etc.

In fact, in the State of Michigan, it is illegal for a priest to reveal confessions.
 
LeahInancsi said:
Although a priest can never report a crime to the police, in a case such as murder, I think the priest is obligated to encourage the person to turn themself in to the police.

Part of the penance should be to right the wrong as much as possible, i.e., apologize to the person you offened if you said or treated someone poorly.
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I’ve argued this on another thread - to me making absolution conditional on a person turning themselves in to the police is no different to the priest turning the person in himself.

Either way the person’s sins (which are between himself and God alone, hence the existence of the seal in the first place) are revealed publicly, and the priest has forced the breaking of the seal which he is obliged to keep.
 
Although the Church forbids from breaking the seal for any reason the State does not see it that way in all cases. I am not sure how many states require the priest to report violations. In Texas, a priest is required to turn in someone who has harmed a child and if the priest fails to report the violation, he is subject to a trail and jail time. The Bishop says God over the Governor and off to jail we go and that’s the way it should be.
 
I have a related question. Can the priest require the penitent to confess his sin to the police? :confused:
 
LilyM said:
I’ve argued this on another thread - to me making absolution conditional on a person turning themselves in to the police is no different to the priest turning the person in himself.

Either way the person’s sins (which are between himself and God alone, hence the existence of the seal in the first place) are revealed publicly, and the priest has forced the breaking of the seal which he is obliged to keep.
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Maybe I misstated my point. I think absolution should be given regardless, but it might be a good idea for the priest to encouraging the person confessing to seek earthly resolution of their sins.
 
LeahInancsi said:
Maybe I misstated my point. I think absolution should be given regardless, but it might be a good idea for the priest to encouraging the person confessing to seek earthly resolution of their sins.
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I totally agree it should be encouraged to the utmost. Not that it should be made a condition of absolution though. 🙂
 
jpoii said:
Although the Church forbids from breaking the seal for any reason the State does not see it that way in all cases. I am not sure how many states require the priest to report violations. In Texas, a priest is required to turn in someone who has harmed a child and if the priest fails to report the violation, he is subject to a trail and jail time. The Bishop says God over the Governor and off to jail we go and that’s the way it should be.
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Of course the priest can still refuse and go to jail instead. I think some states require that if harm to a person in the future is implicated that the priest take steps to warn or protect that person, which can often be accomplished without revealing the confidence.
 
wanner47 said:
A priest cannot violate the sanctity of the confessional, EVER, no matter what the circumstance.

You should check out the Hitchcock movie I Confess. It’s about a priest who hears the confession of a man who murdered another, and later the priest is accused of committing the murder in question. :eek: It’s a riveting story.
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The Law & Order franchise has done some storylines about confession. In one a criminal admitted his guilt to a priest but did not confess it and was forced to testify.

In another, they got videotape of a teenage killer admitting his guilt to an uncle. The uncle turns out to be a Jesuit in (of course) plain clothes. The writers screwed this one up – or McCoy did. I would’ve claimed it wasn’t a confession at all because the SJ never says the words, “I absolve you of your sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”
Of course, if I were the defendant’s attorney I’d claim the seal still applied even if the Sacrament wasn’t valid.

Fairly regularly, Det. Stabler on L&O: SVU (who is supposed to be Catholic) tries to browbeat priests into telling what they’ve learned in the box – successfully in one case, getting a young priest to reveal a Bishop’s confession that he was guilty of child molestation.
 
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