British Catholics warn of conflict over interference in confessions

(OSV News) -- Prominent British Catholics have voiced grave concern about new government-backed legislation that will require Christian clergy to report information obtained during confessions about sexual abuse.

"Priests always try to comply with the law -- but this won't happen if that law contradicts Catholic teaching," said Timothy Guile, chairman of the English Catholic History Association.

"No priest is going to risk excommunication by breaking the confessional seal -- they'd sooner go to prison than bow to such demands. Once again, we face ministers and politicians with no knowledge or understanding of religious faith," he said.

The Catholic historian was reacting to confirmation by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government that "no exceptions" would be made to disclosure obligations under a major new Crime and Policing Bill.

In an OSV News interview, Guile said the bill amounted to "anti-Catholic legislation" and recalled repressive measures against the church dating back to the Reformation.

Meanwhile, a British advocate for abuse victims also expressed concern about the bill, but said it was "very rare" for perpetrators to seek absolution before priests.

"Most abusers develop thought mechanisms justifying their actions, convincing themselves that what they've done, far from being sinful, is beyond their control and the fault of others," Antonia Sobocki, Catholic director of the LOUDFence organization, told OSV News.

"People should stop weaponizing the abuse of children to damage and score points against the church. That's what seems to be happening in this case, and it's uniquely offensive," she said.

The 370-page bill, unveiled Feb. 25 by Yvette Cooper, Britain's home secretary, or interior minister, will strengthen police powers against terrorism, international crime, public disorder and antisocial behavior, as well as tightening sanctions on stalking and sexual offenses.

A chapter on child sexual abuse details measures to combat grooming and internet pornography and requires adult citizens to report suspected abusers, with up to seven years' jail facing anyone "preventing or deterring" a person from doing so.

An accompanying 88-page memorandum stipulates that a "religious or spiritual advisor" hearing confessions is not protected under religious liberty clauses of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.

"The advisor's freedom of religion may be limited as they could be conflicted between their legal obligations and their religious or spiritual convictions after hearing a confession," the memorandum's adds.

"The government is satisfied that any such interference is justified. … The social need to combat child sexual abuse is strong, and it is proportionate to apply the duty to confessions made in a religious or spiritual context," it says.

During an April 22 parliamentary debate, Anglican Bishop David Walker warned the "seal of the confessional" had been "honored for many centuries" and said Britain's Catholic bishops would be "particularly concerned" about its threatened violation.

A government minister, David Hanson, told the session he had received church representatives concerned about the bill and was committed to further discussions.

However, in a May 13 letter to Britain's National Secular Society, the Home Office said there will be "no exceptions" on the basis of where disclosures are received, "including confessionals."

The secretary general of the Scottish bishops' conference, Father Gerard Maguiness, told OSV News church leaders had discussed the new bill but were not yet sure about its impact.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Catholic bishops' conference of England and Wales told OSV News his church had "genuine concerns" about the measure, and would determine "next steps" after "engaging with officials and ministers."

He added that the church placed safeguarding "at the heart of her mission," and said "practical experiences" from other countries had not revealed "problems regarding the seal of confession."

In her OSV News interview, Sobocki said some Catholic priests had already "enacted safeguards" by insisting on talking with abusers before hearing their confessions.

She added that the controversial bill could offer church leaders a "positive opportunity to engage with priests" in finding a "mechanism for administering confession" which also "protected integrity and morality."

"It may not create conflict if we find a way to combine our faith with the safety and welfare of the vulnerable," the victim advocate told OSV News.

"If there's a duty to disclose, there may be ways of adhering to this without compromising the confessional seal, and without placing priests in the desperate situation of being forced to choose between their vocation and upholding the law," she said.

The Crime and Policing Bill, currently awaiting a third reading, takes up recommendations by an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, whose 488-page report, submitted to the British Parliament in October 2022, said a "statutory duty" to report abuse "should not be subject to exceptions based on confidential, religious or other relationships."

However, in a November 2019 inquiry testimony, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, president of the London-based bishops' conference, said confessional secrecy was "an essential part of the exercise of priesthood" that clergy had historically given their lives to defend, and warned any attempts to diminish it would be "rejected."

Provisions 983-984 of the church's Code of Canon Law pronounce the sacramental seal "inviolable," and say confessors must not "use in any manner for external governance the knowledge about sins which he has received in confession at any time," with another canon imposing excommunication for any priest who directly violates the confessional seal.

Historian Guile predicted the bill, if passed, would cause "serious conflict," adding that he regretted British parliamentarians were not "better educated" about the sacramental function of confessions.

"Our politicians seem not to comprehend that there's a worldwide dimension to Catholic teaching," the history association chairman told OSV News.