The Catholic church leader in Australia has rejected a government push to force priests to report accusations of child sexual abuse heard during confession on Friday, saying it would violate a sacred rite and infringe on religious freedom.
According to The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC), it did not accept a recommendation from an official inquiry into church abuse, which would force priests by law to report abuse to the police when they hear about it in confession.
The rebuke came as the local Roman Catholic Church issued a lengthy response to a five-year government inquiry uncovering what officials called a “national tragedy” of widespread sexual abuse of children spanning decades.
“The Council … continues to support retention of the civil law protection for the seal of the confessional, children will be less, rather than more, safe if mandatory reporting of confessions were required,” read in a report.
The investigation, perhaps the most far-reaching inquiry of its kind undertaken by any country, examined abuse in religious institutions, schools and other establishments, finding that many of the cases of suspected abuse involved Catholic priests and religious brothers.
The inquiry heard that seven percent of Catholic priests working in Australia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of child sex crimes and that nearly 1,100 people had filed child sexual assault claims against the Anglican Church over 35 years.
Earlier Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, is facing sexual abuse crises in several countries and the stance taken by the Australian bishops reflected the abiding, powerful influence conservatives in the church.
“The bishops and leaders have the utmost respect for the law, But we believe this proposed law is ill-conceived and impractical. It won’t make children safer and it will most likely undermine religious freedom”, archbishop Coleridge said at a news conference on Friday.
> Shatabdi Sarker Poushi
Australian Catholic Church Rejects Child Sex Abuse Confessions Law
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