by Camilla Turner, Sunday Telegraph
VICARS and priests who are told about child sex abuse during confession will be exempt from new “mandatory reporting” laws.
Labour has been accused of creating an “indefensible loophole” by failing to include the practice in the Crime and Policing Act, which is coming into force next year. The new law introduces a legal obligation to those working or volunteering with children to report any disclosures on sex abuse to the authorities, or face sanctions.
Last year, the Home Office wrote to Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the National Secular Society (NSS), to reassure him that the new duty will apply to “all individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including within religious and faith-based settings”. In the letter in May, the Home
Office added: “There are no exceptions on the basis of where disclosures are received, including confessionals.”
However, The Telegraph understands that ministers have clarified to the Church of England that the mandatory reporting law will only apply when an adult is undertaking “relevant activity” with children – and that this will not extend to confession.
Mr Evans said: “The Government promised there would be no religious exemption. Yet the legislation appears to leave open the possibility that disclosures of child sexual abuse made during confession could go unreported. That would be an indefensible loophole, representing either serious legislative incompetence or a clear retreat from what was promised.”
The seal of the confessional is a priest’s obligation under canon law to hear a person’s confession of sin, or imagined sin, in confidence. Under these rules, nothing a priest is told during it will be repeated or disclosed under any circumstances. This is also the rule of the Roman Catholic Church.
Last month, Bishop Robert Springett, the Church of England’s lead on safeguarding, told the General Synod that confession was not a “regulated activity” as defined by the Police and Crime Act, “and so the responsibility is firmly in our court”.