Is the seal of confession still inviolable?

Abstract

Following the publicization of child abuse cases in Australia, the Australian legislator implemented laws binding priests to disclose information about other priests who have committed sexual child abuse, even if that knowledge is obtained in a confessional situation. This article sets out the development of the seal of confession, its protection according to canon law and its protection according according to the civil and criminal law codes in Germany. The circumstances of the Australian laws demonstrates that they were enacted as a consequence of a highly emotional debate. The role that Catholic representatives took in this discussion was to emphasize the overwhelming importance of the seal of confession. The constitutionality of the Australian laws is still in question. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether these laws are effective at all as the perpetrators will simply avoid unprotected confessions and victims are denied one of the few protected refuges that they, in some cases at least, desperately need.