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| The Roman Catholic Church regards information learned in confession as completely confidential. |
(CNN) -- Ireland stepped up its battle with the Roman Catholic
Church over child abuse Sunday, with Justice Minister Alan Shatter
vowing to pass a law requiring priests to report suspicions of child
abuse, even if they learn about them in confession.
The Catholic Church regards information learned in confession as completely confidential.
But
under the law proposed by Shatter, priests could be prosecuted for
failing to tell the police about crimes disclosed in the confession box.
Shatter
said in a statement through a spokesman last week that priests' failure
to report what they learn in confession "has led sexual predators into
believing that they have impunity and facilitated pedophiles preying on
children and destroying their lives."
The minister's comment to a
local radio station Sunday comes after the Vatican rejected Irish
accusations that church leaders sought to cover up extensive abuse of
young people by priests in Ireland.
Saturday's 25-page statement
is the latest development in a row that has seen an unprecedented rift
open up between the Vatican and Ireland, a heavily Roman Catholic
country.
"The Holy See does not accept that it was somehow
indifferent to the plight of those who suffered abuse in Ireland," the
statement says.
Rather, it says, the Holy See "devoted
considerable attention to the Irish situation," through meetings with
Irish bishops and directions given by the Pope to Irish church leaders. Continue Reading...
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