Pope Francis has ordered Catholic priests not to break the seal of confession when dealing with child rapists and pedophiles.
Priests should go to jail than abide by a new law introduced in Australia designed to protect children, according to instructions issued by the Vatican.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
ABC reports: South Australia has joined the ACT in moving ahead with laws to force Catholic priests to break the seal of confession, to report paedophiles to police.
Other states are still deliberating over whether or not they will adopt that recommendation from the royal commission.
But Catholic Church leaders have rejected the idea.
Father Michael Whelan, the parish priest in St Patrick’s Church Hill in Sydney, said priests would not break the seal of confession.
“The state will be requiring us as Catholic priests to commit as what we regard as the most serious crime and I’m not willing to do that,” Father Whelan said.
The New South Wales Government has said it would respond later this month about whether priests would be legally obliged to report confessions of child sex abuse.
“I expect every jurisdiction in Australia now will follow that recommendation and I expect the church throughout will simply not observe it?” Father Whelan said.
Asked if the Catholic Church was above the law, he said: “Absolutely not, but when state tries to intervene on our religious freedom, undermine the essence of what it means to be a Catholic, we will resist.”
“The only way they [the states] would be able to see whether the law was being observed or not is to try and entrap priests.”
Father Whelan said he was “willing to go to jail” rather than abide by a law.
An alternative, if a priest hears a paedophile confess sins of child sexual abuse, would be to “stop them immediately”, says Father Whelan.
“I would say, ‘Come with me now, we will go down to the police station in order for you to show that you are remorseful’,” he said.
NSW Labor senator Kristina Keneally, who is a scholar of theology and a Catholic, said church could not put itself above the law, but mandatory reporting was not the most effective way to prevent abuse.
“I would look to ordination itself, I would look to who we ordain,” she said.
“I have no doubt that if more women and more parents were involved in the leadership of their Catholic Church, that the problem of child sexual abuse would not have been as big as it was and would have been dealt with far differently when it came to light within the institution.”
Sean Adl-Tabatabai
Latest posts by Sean Adl-Tabatabai (see all)
- Hezbollah Terrorist Caught at Border Admitted Plans ‘To Nuke NYC’ - March 19, 2024
- Details Emerge of ‘Brutal, Violent Rape’ by NYC Mayor Eric Adams - March 19, 2024
- Google Execs Caught Bragging About ‘Rigging’ Elections 41 Times Over Past 16 Years - March 19, 2024
the Christian Church has the legal obligation to offer salvation and redemption to all Sinners The one thing God hates above all abominations and Sins is the Hypocrites.
personally I am reminded of the scripture “better to hang a mill stone around your neck and cast yourself into the deep waters than make one of these little ones stumble” Wait till they are your kids kane
It sounds like a friendly settlement solution between two pedophiles and compliant with Article 32, 47 and 62 of the European Convention of Human Rights. By promoting New Fukuoka in Miami, I obviously am not availing myself of any treaties, conventions or declarations in force. The violations of International Law are carefully incorporated to enrage opponents and having confessed and set out the objective will avoid pointing to the Treaties, Conventions and Declarations that prohibit the acts or incitement included in the policy.
Pedophilia has been around as long as the Catholic Church. Thus the question arises why has it not been stamped out? The answer some claim is the fact the Pope is not a Catholic but a Satanist?
You know you’re near the end when the keepers of the keys of kingdom put the vanity of protocol above the protection of children. May all such institutions be torn asunder and their keepers too.
“How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?”
They have an obligation to protect pedophiles but not children…..madness……
No the Catholic Church has allowed untold numbers of sex offences against children to go unpunished through the superstitious sacrament of confession !!