AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Associated Press via news.com.au
June 11, 2018
By Karen Sweeney
The ACT says a new law aimed at forcing priests to report child sexual abuse admissions hearing in confession is about putting children first.
Priests in the ACT [Australian Capital Territory] will be legally required to report any admissions of child sexual abuse they hear during the Catholic sacrament of confession.
The ACT Legislative Assembly on Friday passed legislation requiring priests to break the seal of confession and report abusers.
But there will be a nine-month wait before the law is enforced as the government works through “legal complexities” of the bill, which clashes with Canon Law governing the Catholic Church.
Under Canon Law, priests are forbidden from revealing what they hear in confession.
Territory Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay, a former Uniting Church minister, says the government knows there are significant complexities.
“We believe that the primary response must be for the protection of children,” he told ABC radio.
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