Child abuse and the seal of Confession

[rah]

They have been successful in hiding it long enough that 90% of those that were guilty are now dead and beyond any earthly justice. One of those rare times that I actually hope their belief in a Just God is true and is making up for the lack of punishment they received during their lifetime.

 

[Cutlass]

I can't imagine the "seal of confession" applies to all of this knowledge. There is likely a good amount of old-fashioned criminal cover-up going on there.

Not that I particularly care about religion, but I still don't like the precedent regarding confessionals for the same reason I mentioned last year: it creates incentive for the criminals in question to avoid saying anything at all. I'm not convinced by this "guilt was absolved thing", as I suspect most offenders continue the sexual abuse at some point. If that premise holds then seal of confession vs not would be neutral, not something actually contributing to the systemic problem.

The priests/higher ups being criminal offenders themselves is a bit tangential to the legal question at hand but also the bigger problem.

There's certainly criminal cover up. The question I was addressing was why did they think it was a good idea, and what's their (self-serving) justification for doing so? And I think that's just an old fashion case of cover your ass.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

There's certainly criminal cover up. The question I was addressing was why did they think it was a good idea, and what's their (self-serving) justification for doing so? And I think that's just an old fashion case of cover your ass.

I won't rule out the possibility of some extreme internal mental gymnastics, but I suspect they broadly knew they were doing something wrong.