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By Quentin McDermott and Peter Cronau | ABC

The Catholic Church’s spokesman on child sexual abuse has questioned its stance on the sanctity of the confessional when it is used by priests who make admissions of abuse.

Francis Sullivan, the chief executive of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, has told the ABC’s Four Corners program in an extended interview that in his mind, “the child’s safety is paramount and it’s incumbent upon the church to explain to the Catholic community and beyond why the confessional and information in it is sacrosanct”.

Wayne Chamley from Broken Rites, an organisation which researches the alleged cover-up of abuse in the Catholic Church, told Four Corners that “a deviant paedophile priest may use the confessional as a way to lock in his superior”.

“It may be that tactically these people – because they’re incredibly clever paedophiles, and they’re incredibly…