LONDON (ENGLAND)
Catholic Herald
November 28, 2017
An Inquiry into child sex abuse heard that priests should be forced to reveal Confessions in such cases
British priests should be compelled to break the Seal of the Confessional in cases of child abuse, lawyers have told a national inquiry.
Solicitor David Enright, representing former pupils at a Comboni missionary school, said it was a problem that “matters revealed in Confession, including child abuse, cannot be used in governance”.
“One can’t think of a more serious obstacle embedded in the law of the Catholic Church to achieving child protection.”
He added: “The Catholic Church is so opaque, so disparate, so full of separate bodies who are not subject to any authority that it is difficult to see how reform can be made to provide good governance and introduce acceptable standards of child protection.”
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