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Are Priests under the Duty to Report a Confessed Crime?
Abstract
The proper operation of justice requires cooperation of society as the entity jointly responsible for the security of the state. The perfect expression of this is the duty to report a committed crime, which rests with anyone who has credible information about a prohibited act. We distinguish civic and legal duties as well as punishable failure to report a crime. The considerations undertaken are aimed at answering the question: in what situations a clergyman is bound by the above duties, and when he can evade them? Further, what are the consequences of violating these duties with regard to the seal of confession by which the priest is bound. Confession is not the only form of contact between the faithful and the clergyman, but it is the only one that enjoys protection, so the question is whether pastoral conversation and spiritual guidance can benefit from the protection related to professional secrecy. It is crucial to have these questions answered from the perspective of a believer who entrusts his secrets to a clergyman, in confidence that they will always be protected.
Keywords:
priest, denunciation, professional secret, reporting a crime, seal of confessionDetails
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.