AUSTRALIA
The Australian
October 26, 2016
PETER HOYSTED
ColumnistCanberra
@JacktheInsider
The Sacrament of Penance, better known as the Rite of Confession within the Roman Catholic Church, is a ritual many non-Catholics find bemusing. It is fertile ground for sketch comedy and often features in movies as a plot device. A man enters, slides the screen across to reveal a murky figure on the other side.
The Rite of Confession raises all manner of legal and ethical dilemmas and conflicts between Canon Law and the law of the land. If a priest hears a confession from a person who confesses to planning to commit a murder at some point in future, is the priest bound by law to report to the police? If a priest takes confession from a man who has committed serious crimes and the priest does not inform the police, can the priest be charged with offences such as being an accessory or conspiracy?
The answer is grey and uncertain and police and prosecutors inevitably give it a wide berth. A priest cannot be compelled to give evidence in a trial based on admissions made in the confession box in any Australian jurisdiction.
There have been times when the royal commissioners have alluded to confession as offensive to non-Catholics, that one person can be absolved of guilt for a crime due to his or her faith while those of other or no religious persuasion cannot.
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