Catholic bishops in Australia reject laws forcing priests to report sex abuse confessions

The Catholic Church in AustraliasaidFriday it would oppose laws forcing priests to reportchild abuse when they learn about it in the confessional,setting the stage for a showdown between the country's biggestreligion and the government.

Pope Francis, leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics,is facing sexual abuse crises in several countries and the stance taken by the Australian bishops reflected the abiding,powerful influence conservatives have in the church.

Visiting Ireland earlier this week, Pope Francis beggedforgiveness for the multitude of abuses suffered by victims in Ireland, and he has promised no more coverups.

Their stance is the classic tension between canon law, and their sense that there is some sort of higher, transcendent entity, and common law.- Andrew Singleton, professor of philosophy

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC), thecountry's top Catholic body, said it did not accept arecommendation from an official inquiry that would forcepriests by law to report abuse to the police when they hear about it in confession.

Two of Australia's eight states and territories have sinceintroduced laws making it a crime for priests to withhold information about abuse heard in the confessional, while theothers have said they are considering their response.

"This proposed law is ill conceived, and impracticable, itwon't make children saferand it will most likely undermine religious freedom," ACBC President Mark Coleridge told reportersin Sydney, referring to the sanctity of the confessional.

Practice is 'non-negotiable'

The seal of confession was "a non-negotiable element of ourreligious life and embodies an understanding of the believer andGod,"Coleridge added.

Twenty-two per cent of Australians are Catholic, and the movesets up a rare schism between the church and the governmentina country that adheres to a secular constitution.

Andrew Singleton, professor of philosophy at DeakinUniversity in the state of Victoria, said the bishops' response reflected a disconnect in Australia between religious andsecular sensibilities.

"Their stance is the classic tension between canon law, andtheir sense that there is some sort of higher, transcendent entity, and common law," Singleton said.

Last year, Australia ended a five-year government inquiryinto child sex abuse in churches and other institutions, amid allegations worldwide that churches had protected paedophilepriests by moving them from parish to parish.

The inquiry heard seven percent of Catholic priests inAustralia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of child sex crimes and nearly 1,100 people had filed child sexual assaultclaims against the Anglican Church over 35 years.

Accusations of coverups in the church have reverberated allthe way to Pope Francis, who has been accused by a United Statesarchbishop of knowing for years about sexual misconduct by anAmerican cardinal and doing nothing about it.

Victims 'quite disappointed'

The ACBC's opposition runs against laws which take effect inSouth Australia, the country's fifth-biggest state, in October,and in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from April 2019.

Representatives of the attorneys general of South Australiaand ACT were not immediately available for comment.

Larger New South Wales and Victoria states have said theyare considering the recommendation, while Western Australia haspromised a similar law. Queensland, the third-largest state, hasnever exempted priests from mandatory reporting of abuse.

We are aware of at least one instance where the confession has been misused.- Clare Leaney, In Good Faith Foundation CEO

The stance taken by the Australian bishops also runs againstthe position taken by their Church's chief adviser on child abuse complaint handling, Francis Sullivan, who said in 2017that "priests, like everybody else, will be expected to obey thelaw or suffer the consequences."

Sullivan was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Clare Leaney, CEO of In Good Faith Foundation, a victimsupport group, described the bishops' decision as "more of thesame."

"I've spoken to a number of survivors ... who said they wereactually quite disappointed," Leaney said. "We are aware of at least one instance where the confessionhas been misused."

The ACBC report came two weeks after a former Australianarchbishop became the most senior Catholic cleric in the worldto be convicted of concealing abuse, and was ordered to serve aone-year prison sentence at home.

The convicted former archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson,himself a former ACBC president, was found to have failed toreport child abuse outside the confessional. He filed an appealagainst his conviction on Thursday.

Australia's former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull had beenscheduled to deliver a rare public apology to victims of sexualabuse on Oct. 22, but he was ousted by his party earlier thismonth.