Seal of the Confessional. Are there exceptions?

[Zaccheus]

The seal dosent have to be all or nothing. Criminals should be brought to justice

If the priest is allowed to report the most serious crimes then there will be an outcry demanding that he be required to report some other crime not already on the “Most Serious” list.
If that outcry results in a new crime added to the ‘must report’ list then soon there will be a new outcry demanding that some other crime also be added.
The demands will never stop till the priest is required to report all crimes confessed. It must be all or nothing because it WILL be all or nothing.

Also if the priest is required, or even allowed, to report what is confessed then penitents will refuse to confess for fear of being reported. Which defeats the point of the Sacrament of Penance.

 

[HeDa]

A priest I know said he would do the following if someone confessed for example murder or other serious crimes. There would be a short conversation between then and then he would say to the penitent that when he/she decides to turn himself/herself in he/she would need spiritual guidance to keep doing what is right. Then he would tell the person his name and which parish he is connected to and ask the penitent to ask the prison staff to contact him asap, even if it is in the middle of the night.

The church law doesn’t even allow a priest to say that person X has been to confession and that he has heard it. It is to be treated as if the confession hasn’t even taken place. There are several priests who have been martyred because they kept the seal of confession.

 

[TheLittleLady]

They cannot be a working priest again, they can only grant absolution if someone is dying and no other priest available

 

[Scott84]

No, under no exception can the priest break the seal of confession.

You could confess to a murder and the priest could not tell a soul.

 

[vz71]

What I am trying to say is that we COULD change if we tried. it is not that hard to do.

The church is not a democracy.