Breaking with a long tradition of clerical privilege, California is edging toward requiring priests and other church employees to inform authorities if they learn of a case of child sex abuse during the sacrament of confession, ther Religion News website reports today (June 6, 2019).
On May 31, the California Senate passed a bill requiring priests to report child abuse if they learn about it while hearing a confession.
Catholic leaders see the bill as forcing priests and other clergy either to comply with the law and violate the sacramental seal of confession or defy authorities and risk arrest.
The California Catholic Conference decried the bill in a statement, describing it as an "attack on the sanctity of the confessional" and noting that under church law, any priest who violates the seal of confession is automatically excommunicated.
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