ARE PRIESTS OBLIGATED TO REPORT CONFESSIONS OF CRIME?

The Catholic Church has historically grappled with the clash between the Seal of Confession and secular laws passed by Governments which require a Priest to breach their Seal of Confession.

The Seal of Confession requires that sins or information shared to a Priest during Penance never be disclosed by the Priest. This conflicts with secular laws that compel mandatory reporting obligations, which often arise in circumstances of child abuse.

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NATURE OF THE SEAL OF CONFESSION

The Seal of Confession is considered the most sacred obligation in Catholic law and has absolute inviolability according to Canon 983, meaning that there are no circumstances whatsoever that permit Priests, in accordance with their Catholic law, to disclose anything that a person has disclosed to them in confession.

WHAT IS THE CATHOLIC LAW PUNISHMENT FOR BREAKING SEAL OF CONFESSION?

A Priest who directly breaks the Seal of Confession is automatically excommunicated from the Church the very moment they commit the breach. The excommunication isn’t limited to solely their Priestly duties, but also includes celebrating Mass in a non-Priestly capacity and their own receiving of the Sacraments.

Only the Pope has the authority to lift the excommunication, unless the offending Priest is at immediate danger of death, at which point any Priest may lift the excommunication.

WHAT ARE THE MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS IN NSW?

Section 27 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) requires that people in certain professions and authorities, including a person in religious ministry, or a person providing religion-based activities to children, to report, as soon as practicable, to the Secretary of the Department of Communities and Justice the name, or a description, of the child and the grounds for suspecting that the child is at risk of significant harm in circumstances where the person:

Has reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is at risk of significant harm, and
Those grounds arise during the course of or from the person’s work or role

This provision therefore captures circumstances whereby information has been revealed to a Priest during the Sacrament of Confession, and that information has led to the above grounds of suspicion that a child is at risk of significant harm.

A child or young person is at risk of significant harm if current concerns exist for the safety, welfare or well-being of the child or young person because of the presence, to a significant extent, of any one or more of the circumstances listed under Section 23 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW). This includes, but is not limited to the child or young person has been, or is at risk of being, physically or sexually abused or ill-treated.

OTHER AUSTRALIAN STATES AND TERRITORIES

The exact scope of the obligations and processes of mandatory reporting requirement differ across different Australian state jurisdictions and are subject to each state and territory’s own laws. Northern Territory has the broadest mandatory reporting scheme in the nation, with all adults legally obligated to report child abuse, rather than the obligation being limited to specific professions.

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If you or anyone you know have been accused of or charged with a criminal offence, contact our specialised criminal lawyers at Criminal Lawyers Group immediately for a free consultation so that we may secure the best outcome for you.

Our award-winning team of criminal law specialists are nationally recognised for securing the best outcomes for our clients across NSW who have been accused of or charged with serious criminal offences.