Confessional privilege

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest%E2%80%93penitent_privilege
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_privilege_(United_States)

In most US states, priests are mostly exempt from having to testify in providing confessions of any crime, although the priest-penitent privilege can be challenged in certain cases such as child sex abuse.  Under Roman Catholic law, a priest who discloses what is revealed to him in Confession may be subject to excommunication.

I vote no unless the person who confessed is actively committing the crime or has expressed intention of doing it again.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Somehow I was thinking this was going to be about the unfair advantages of Episcopalians.

But no, they shouldn't.   And I know it is controversial but I don't believe a priest should be a mandatory reporter for abuse when it comes to what is revealed in confession.  I believe it is possible for someone to seek help and change, or at least decide to remove themselves from the situation where they are victimizing someone, and making a priest report it will only discourage that from happening.

[twenty42]

Confessional privilege has been dramatized in media a lot, but it's actually a lot more complicated in reality. In actuality, if one does confess a serious crime, it's usually part of his/her penance to turn themselves into the authorities. If the penitent repeatedly confesses the same sin(s) to the priest without turning themselves in, it becomes the penitent themselves who are actually violating confessional privilege. According to Catholic teaching, sins aren't forgiven in the confessional but rather once penance is carried out. If a penitent repeatedly seeks confession for something but they are not carrying out their penance, the whole sacrament becomes invalid, nullifying the priest's seal of confession.

[Goldwater]

Honestly, I don't really like the idea of confessional privilege. I guess this is one area where my lack of religion puts me outside of the mainstream.