this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
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That’s not a rule he can get rid of. The seal of confession is a matter of doctrine and divine law and the pope isn’t authorized to overrule god.
Also, again, there’s no rule against turning in child rapists. There’s a rule against breaking the seal of confession. If a priest finds out about a crime in any manner besides confession, they’re free to contact authorities.
And it’d be a dumbass idea anyway. If a criminal is coming to confession in the first place then there is some remorse for what they’ve done, which means that person might be encouraged to turn themselves in. If you started reporting them when they came to confession, it’ll work once or twice and then criminals would just stop going to confession. Which additionally, is an anonymous act. The priest doesn’t know who you are when you go to confession.
That's fucking bullshit, sorry. My therapist is a mandatory reporter, but a fucking priest isn't? Nah.
In many states priests are mandatory reporters.
But they can’t be forced to abandon their religious beliefs by the government by breaking the seal of confession.
Then they should be prosecuted for it. Their beliefs are a direct detriment to public health and safety.
Great idea, let’s just disregard the first amendment entirely. And then once we’ve done that, the government would also be free to establish a state religion and force all of us to follow it.
I think we better put that monkeys paw back where we found it.
It's not disregarding it entirely. There are a bunch of things that aren't protected by freedom of religion, and protecting people who are an immediate threat to others shouldn't be something that's protected.
The seal of confession is protected by the first amendment as it’s a core tenant of the Catholic religion, and the U.S. government doesn’t have the authority to change religious doctrine of a religion that predates the country by millennia. There are decades of legal precedent for this so outside of a landmark Supreme Court ruling, it’s protected. If you were to violate the constitutional rights of these priests, you wouldn’t catch any more child abusers, you’d just be jailing people for their faith.
Also, the seal of confession is not “protecting people”. The church isn’t going to defend a child abuser, nor protect them. There is nothing to stop clergy from reporting child abusers to the authorities. It only protects speech shared during the sacrament of confession. If a priest were to find out that somebody is an abuser in any way other than through confession, they would report it the same as anyone else.
If a child rapist tells a priest in confession, "I've raped a child and I'm going to do it again," and the priest tells no one, that's protecting a child rapist.
I don't think your religious beliefs are a valid excuse to put others in harms way. If a therapist is a mandatory reporter, then a priest should be too. It's a bullshit loophole that needs to be closed.
A child rapist wouldn’t say that in confession. Confession is a sacrament where you confess your sins with regret, for the purpose of earning forgiveness. If somebody was not only not remorseful for what they’ve done, but are already determined to continue in the future… why would they be at confession? Your example makes no sense.
Putting aside the total lack of reason and sense in your hypothetical question, you’re asking what would happen if a criminal went into a confessional booth not to engage with the sacrament of confession, but to brag to a priest about a crime that they committed and boast that they’re planning to do it again? That would not be protected by the seal of confession since it isn’t one, and the priest could report that person.
And one of the founding principles of our nation can hardly be considered a “loophole” when it was placed there on purpose with cases exactly like this in mind.
You're making overly broad generalizations about a religion with over 1 billion members.
There are absolutely people who abuse the confession system as a get out of jail free card for their guilt with no intention of changing their ways.
Again, there are absolutely restrictions to freedom of religion, just like there's restrictions on every other 1A right. I don't think that it's possible to make a reasonable case to not make priests mandatory reporters for child rape.
That’s not how confession works. It’s not a “get out of jail free card”, and it doesn’t take a broad generalization to know that even somebody deluded enough to think that it is, isn’t going to tell a priest “and I’ll do it again” and still think they’re getting anything out of it. That’s just a scenario made up entirely in your head, and I wouldn’t waste too much of your energy worrying about scenarios that only exist in your head. We have enough real problems to worry about.
Yes, and the seal of confession is not one of them, nor should it be.
You must be a child rapist since you know so authoritatively what they'd say in confession.
No just somebody with a little common sense is all.
How is speaking to the actions of every Catholic child rapist "common sense"?
Your entire argument is predicated on the fallacy that every single Catholic holds the sanctity of confessional to the same standard you do.
Considering the fact that priests raping children is not a rate event, you're very mistaken. Christianity has been used and abused by horrible people to justify their behavior since its inception.
To sit there and claim that absolutely no Catholic would ever dare sully the sanctity of confession just shows how naive you are about how awful humans are.
Catholicism isn’t like other Christian sects where you can kinda interpret things your own way. The defining characteristic of the Catholic Church is a rigid adherence to established doctrine.
If there were somebody out there that didn’t hold confession to the standard that I do, they probably wouldn’t bother going to confession. It’s not something you’re forced to do at regular intervals. Either this hypothetical person believes in the sanctity of confession or they don’t. If they do, they aren’t going to go to confession to tell the priest that they aren’t sorry and are ready to offend again. And if they don’t, there’s no reason for them to go in the first place.
The only possible third option which is extremely unlikely, is somebody who doesn’t believe in the sanctity of confession, going into a confessional just to not confess at all but boast about their crimes and willingness to do it again. But in that case, they aren’t taking the sacrament, so the priest could report them.
Your middle school level spiel and circular logic are not getting you anywhere here
Yeah, I'm done talking with someone who supports protecting child rapists.
I'd say have a nice life, but I wouldn't actually mean it.
Edit: BTW, I think it's particularly funny that you're defending a religion that has a long history of raping children and covering up for the rapists.
Not just raping children, too. The Catholic Church has actively participated in the genocide of indigenous peoples.
https://www.cwla.org/supreme-court-upholds-child-abuse-evidence-via-mandatory-reporter/
womp womp
What is it that you think that page says?
Would you say the same if Muslims were doing human sacrifices? (It must be noted that they do not actually do that, this question is for demonstration purposes only.)
Is your demonstration an attempt to equate listening to somebody’s regrets about committing a crime in the past, with perpetrating a crime?
And what do the Muslims have to do with this?