Francis Defends Seal of Confession - With All His Magisterial Lightweight
At a November 8 meeting with the Roman Curia, Francis expressed the truism about the seal of confession that it is "inviolable and inalienable."
According to IlMessagero.it, he said that the Church would never agree to the lifting of the seal of confession and Francis is “willing to put all my magisterial [light]weight into this.” However, he has considerably lost doctrinal authority after his attempts to "change" Catholic teaching on death penalty and the indissolubility of marriage.
Canon Law 983 explains that the sacramental seal is inviolable, “Therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” Priests have given their lives to protect the seal of Confession.
Picture: © Mazur, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsVhffkfxxmg
Hypothetical question: a priest hears the Confession of a murderer but is then arrested and accused of that murder. I claim that the priest can legitimately say “I am innocent” and “I am bound by the seal of Confession” instead of remaining absolutely silent. True?
"Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner."
(IVth Lateran Council)
So it depends on circumstances. Saying "I am bound by the seal of Confession" in reply to questions regarding a murder indicates that the murderer confessed his sin to that priest and in some circumstances may be connected with the identity of the penitent.
@V.S.R Thanks, I had posited "I am bound by the seal of Confession" to be a truthful statement applicable to every Confession he has heard in the past 30 years which does not disclose any info about a particular person unless it is a very unusual circumstance. Thanks for the quote.
With this Pope, the faithful should rejoice he has (for once) publicly acknowledged Church teaching with no qualifications whatsoever.
Paus Franciscus kan de Rooms Katholieke kerk een enorme dienst bewijzen door onmiddellijk af te treden.
In typical PF fashion, it sounds like he is going to undermine the seal of confession, and probably the practice itself - so TLM mentality, don't you know - in his next encyclical. Of course, there might be a follow-up Synod on merits of a Synod on Sin.