AUSTRALIA
Sky News
The idea that the confessional stays confidential even when people use it to admit to crimes is ‘medieval’, an independent senator says, as senior Liberals call for the practice to be overturned.
Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has insisted ‘the seal of confession is inviolable’ even if a priest confesses to child sex abuse.
Cardinal Pell said on Tuesday priests should avoid hearing confession from colleagues suspected of committing child sex abuse to avoid being bound by the seal of confession.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon says that’s an anachronism.
‘This is a medieval law that needs to change in the 21st century,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
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