AUSTRALIA
Macquarie Port News
By Judith Ireland and Michelle Grattan
Nov. 14, 2012
Senior federal Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne has declared that priests should report child sex abuse crimes revealed in the confessional to police.
On Wednesday, Mr Pyne – who is a practising Catholic – said that as a member of Parliament, it would be wrong of him to advise citizens not to report crimes, particularly something as serious as child abuse.
”If a priest, or anyone else, is aware of the sexual abuse of children that is going on, I think there is an obligation on them to report it to the appropriate authorities,” he told ABC Radio.
On Tuesday, in the wake of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement of a royal commission on child abuse, Cardinal George Pell said that the seal of confession was ”inviolable”.
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