Archbishop: Church must end secrecy of confession

By Sean O'neill
Times
October 22, 2014

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4244267.ece

Sean O'Neill Crime Editor

Child abusers should no longer be protected from justice by the confidentiality of the confessional, the Archbishop of York told The Times today.

Dr John Sentamu said that after listening to survivors of sexual abuse by a senior clergyman he had pressed the Church of England to undertake legal and theological study on the secrecy of confession.

Under canon law priests are forbidden from disclosing what is said to them in the confessional.

The Archbishop said: “Jesus said the greatest person in the kingdom is not the  bishop or the priest, it’s the child... I would rather stick with Jesus