Bishops reject Australian law forcing priests to report abuse
THE Catholic Church in Australia said yesterday it would oppose laws forcing priests to report child abuse when they learn about it in the confessional, setting the stage for a showdown between the country’s biggest religion and the government.
Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, is facing sexual abuse crises in several countries and the stance taken by the Australian bishops reflected the abiding, powerful influence of conservatives in the Church.
Visiting Ireland last weekend, Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the multitude of abuses suffered by victims here, and he has promised no more cover-ups.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) said it did not accept a recommendation from an official inquiry that would force priests by law to report abuse to the police when they hear about it in confession.
Two of Australia’s eight territories have since introduced laws making it a crime for priests to withhold information about abuse heard in the confessional, while the others have said they are considering their response.
“This proposed law is ill-conceived, and impracticable, it won’t make children safer, and it will most likely undermine religious freedom,” ACBC president Mark Coleridge told reporters, referring to the sanctity of the confessional.
The seal of confession was “a non-negotiable element of our religious life and embodies an understanding of the believer and God”, Mr Coleridge added.
The move sets up a rare schism between the Church and the government, in a country that adheres to a secular constitution and where 22pc of people are Catholic.
Andrew Singleton, professor of philosophy at Deakin University in the state of Victoria, said the bishops’ response reflected a disconnect in Australia between religious and secular sensibilities.
“Their stance is the classic tension between canon law – a sense that there is some sort of higher, transcendent entity – and common law,” he said.
Last year, Australia ended a five-year government inquiry
‘This law proposed is ill-conceived, and impracticable, it won’t make children safer, and it will most likely undermine religious freedom’
into child sex abuse in churches and other institutions, amid allegations worldwide churches had protected paedophile priests by moving them from parish to parish.
The inquiry heard 7pc of Catholic priests in Australia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of child sex crimes and nearly 1,100 people had filed child sexual assault claims against the Anglican Church over 35 years.
Accusations of cover-ups in the Church have reverberated all the way to Pope Francis, who has been accused by a US archbishop of knowing for years about sexual misconduct by an American cardinal and doing nothing about it.
Australia’s ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull had been scheduled to deliver a rare public apology to victims of sexual abuse on October 22 but he was ousted by his party earlier this month.