Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)

Ius canonicum

MANTADORY REPORTING LEGISLATION AND THE SEAL OF CONFESSION... 75

would incur the crime of false testimony.16 The secrecy of confession is inviolable indeed according to the numerous Concordats between the Holy See and states; the new Italian Concordat (1984) for example guarantees in art. 4, part 4 the inviolability of the seal of confession.17

In the meantime, we have today already adopted laws, which require mandatory reporting of any knowledge about abuse in case of confession. While we have some very strict mandatory reporting laws in most of Australia, other countries such as France, Ireland and USA considered taking similar actions in the past or they will occur in the future. At the stake here are several issues, which have to be addressed adequately: protection of children, inviolability of the seal of confession, right of privacy & confidentiality in the pastoral setting and religious freedom. But before we examine the arguments for inviolability of the sacramental seal of confession and the right of religious freedom we should firstly present briefly the recent developments in the mandatory reporting legislations in the Western world.

I. Mandatory Reporting Legislation & the Seal of Confession

1. France

a. Current Mandatory Reporting Recommendations in France In its final report18 published on Oct. 5, 2021, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) established in 2018 by the French bishops has found that an estimated 216,000 children in France were abused by priests, deacons, monks, or nuns from 1950 to 2020. When abuse by other Church workers was also taken into account in this report, “the estimated number of child victims rises to 330,000 for the whole of the period.” The Report estimated that there were “between 2,900 and 3,200” abusers out of 115,000 clergy and monks, which it noted “would imply a very high number of victims per aggressor.” The study suggested that “more than a third of

16 See the Sentence of the Criminal Court #6912 (Corte di Cassazione, Sentenza# 6912, February 14th 2017). See https://renatodisa.com/corte-di-cassazione-sezione-vi-penale-sentenza-14-febbraio-2017-n-6912/ (consulted: 11.9.2021); cf. also http://www.cn24tv.it/news/130091/dissero-il-falso-in-processo-su-violenza-confermata-condanna-per-prete-e-suora.html (consulted: 11.9.2021).

17 The so called Agreement L ’accordo di Villa Madama from February 8th 1984 between Republic of Italy and the Holy See establishes the following: Gli ecclesiastici non sono tenuti a dare ai magistrati o ad altra autoritä informazioni su persone o materie di cui siano venuti a conoscenzaper ragione del loro ministem; cf. art. 4, n. 4, in https://presidenza.govemo.it/USRI/confessioni/accordo_indice.html (consulted 11.16.2021).

18 See Ciase Summary of the Final Report, in https://www.ciase.fr/medias/Ciase-Summary-of-the- Final-Report-5-october-2021.pdf (consulted: 11.16.2021).