What happens if a priest breaks the seal of confession?

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Excommunicated automatically (latæ sententiæ), no matter what. Only the Pope can lift that censure, and he can determine the punishment, usually depending on the gravity of the breach of the seal.
 
as said earlier excommunication only forgiven by the pope

its a serious issue, and it should be taken into effect of those discerning a priestly vocation.

while I don’t speak from experience, I have heard that God seems to give priests the grace of forgetfulness when it comes to the confessional. Maybe not forgetting sins that are forgiven but rather who committed what sins.

There is a joke I’ve heard once, don’t remember the whole thing, but someone wanted to find out what someone said in the confessional and he told someone to go ask God what that person said, and the person came back saying he said I forgot.

btw the seal is under attack in some countries. In Ireland I have heard they are working to pass a law that will force the priest to break the seal of confession in order to try and catch a criminal. I would hope that the priests in Ireland would rather face imprisonment maybe toucher and in some cases death for the sake of seal of confession, God will look kindly on those who sacrifice themselves for the sake of the kingdom.

While yes breaking the seal could make this world a safer place, in theory, this world isn’t what matters its heaven that matters.
 
catholictiger said:
While yes breaking the seal could make this world a safer place, in theory, this world isn’t what matters its heaven that matters.
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As Jimmy Akin has said a few times on his podcast, the seal of the confessional is akin to the presumption of innocence in most modern legal systems. Sometimes, following the rule means that genuinely guilty people escape punishment. However, the vast majority of the time, the rule protects people, and the very fact that it always applies encourages people to trust the system. Though the perverse cases always upset people when they come to light, society/the Church has concluded that the protection provided by the rule is worth the small risk. Indeed, the proverb usually applied to the legal presumption of innocence suggests that the rule would still be worth following even if the price to protect one innocent person were the freedom of a hundred guilty ones.

Usagi
 
Hokomai said:
Are there any actual cases of such a breach?
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I have never heard an actual case of a breach but I do know two cases of priests who died defending the seal of confession and I know several cases of priests who have been through tremendous pressure to reveal something told to them during confession and handled the situation amazingly without ever revealing anything.
 
According to Catholicism For Dummies, the seal of confession has never been broken. Pretty amazing! 👍
 
Very particularly, I know of a case in Latin America where after a couple of months following a bank robbery, a priest showed up to return all the money that was stolen. Apparently, the bank robber felt guilty and my guess is that the priest talked him into returning everything he had stolen. The priest showed up to return everything and when he was inquired about it the priest said he couldn’t say anything because it was revealed to him under confession; the poor priest then got accused of the crime and ended up in prision a couple of months until it was shown that the priest didn’t commit the crime. In the end, the bank robber came to the police by his own feet and I am pretty sure that they ended up clearing the charges against him because everybody felt so touched by the whole story.
 
Bearontherun said:
According to Catholicism For Dummies, the seal of confession has never been broken. Pretty amazing! 👍
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I believe when a priests goes into the confessional and hears a confession he receives the grace of forgetfulness. maybe not of the sin or maybe not who came to confess that day. BUT he forgets what each person said.

but the devil will always always tempt.

its a tough battle luckily Christ has already won the war 😃
 
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