The Seal of the Confessional

Must not be broken by state command

As long as Confession has existed, priests have been forbidden, on pain of excommunication, from revealing the content of those Confessions.

There is a very good movie about a priest who has to keep a secret what was confessed in private, even though it involves a crime. I hadn’t realized that the film was a Hitchcock one until I looked it up just now.

Trump is taking on the state of Washington for their bill targeting priests, and forcing them to either reveal confessed crimes, or go to jail.

FULL

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched legal action against the State of Washington for trying to force Roman Catholic priests to break the Seal of Confession, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment and religious freedom. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division explained that the bill forces Catholic priests to face criminal consequences for upholding their faith.

Now, the actual chances of any given priest hearing a penitent reveal a crime is slim. I would imagine that other, less exciting peccadillos dominate the priest’s time during Confession. Not murder, theft, or bigamy, but giving vent to anger, cursing in traffic, or watching scantily clad young women on an electronic device.

Nonetheless, it’s a clerical privilege to refuse to cooperate with civil authorities when it comes to revealing confidential matters learned in the course of participating in the sacrament.

Kudos to the Trump administration for marshaling the resources of the Justice department in defense of Catholic faith.