Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)
Ius canonicum
74 GORAN JOVICIC Unfortunately, the seal of confession is under threat in our modem times, in a very secularized and to some extent anti-Catholic society. The well-known Church Historian De Mattéi rightly points out, that the Western judicial tradition and “the Catholic States have always protected the secrecy of the confessional (...) but the process of secularization of recent decades, which according to some the Church would have benefitted, is nonetheless changing the situation.”" De Mattéi refers here to the Vatican reporter Franca Giansoldati, who writes in the article in Roman daily, “II Messaggero” that: “the abolition of the seal of the confessional is an idea which is being pushed forward implacably, in various countries, despite strong opposition from the Episcopates”11 12 The child abuse is not a single case, when some governments want to enforce the mandatory reporting laws concerning the seal of confession. Father Alexander Stroobandt for example was convicted in 2018 by the Court of Bmges (Belgium) for failing to notify the social services, that an old man had manifested the intention of committing suicide. The man’s wife learned that her husband had told the priest of his intentions, and she decided to sue the priest who had exchanged several SMS and phone calls with the man who committed suicide. The woman claimed that the man did not warn anyone of her husband’s intentions.13 The Court held that the secrecy of the confessional is not absolute, but can and must be violated in sexual abuse cases concerning minors and in the prevention of suicide.14 According to this view a similar situation can be then extended to a case, when priest leams about the murder in the confession made by a murderer, as the true story of the J. Spillman’s novel “A Victim to the Seal of Confession” accounts. Father Francis Montmoulin is that victim of a seal of confession, accused for a murder, but he cannot use the knowledge from the confession made by a murderer even to prove his innocence.15 There is different case in Italy, which concerns a priest and religious sister, who were summoned to testify in a trial for sexual abuse. The Criminal Court said that they could not refuse to do so, since they are required to testify about the information available to them outside of the confession, otherwise they 11 See De Mattéi, R., Martyrs and Violators https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/12/de-mattei-martyrs-and-violators-of.html (consulted: 11.9.2021). 12 Giansoldati, R, Roman daily, II Messaggero (December 20th 2018). 13 See Convicted priest in Belgium for not breaking the confession secret, in https://newsbeezer . com/colombiaeng/convicted-priest-in-belgium-for-not-breaking-the-confession-secret-elespectador-com/ (consulted: 11.9.2021). 14 See Belgium and the seal of confessional, in https://lawandreligionuk.com/2018/12/21/law-andreligion-round-up-23rd-december/ (consulted: 11.9.2021) 15 Spillman, J., A Victim to the Seal of Confession, St. Louis 1898.
