Priests told to report abuse or face the law

Priests who fail to tell police about suspected child sex abuse should face criminal charges, even when they learn of abuse during confession, Australia’s most powerful investigative authority said yesterday.

Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended legislation that would make it a criminal offence for people to fail to report abuse in an institutional setting.

Even clergy who find out about abuse during confession would not be exempt from the law.