does anyone know the meaning of the seal of the confessional?

Question

What if a person who has committed a crime,confesses during confession to a priest... is the priest able to contact the police.... what about the seal of the confessional...

Answer 1

No. He can't tell a soul. The confidentiality of the confessional has been reaffirmed even by the Supreme Court of the United States. (but I think the priest sat in jail a while for refusing to reveal the identity of the guilty confessor until the Supreme Court decided).

If that seal were broken, people would be afraid to avail themselves of this important sacrament. It just wouldn't exist anymore. And how would that help?

It has saved lives, too. One man came to a priest and confessed to having raped and tortured a woman who was close to death. The priest was unable to identify the creep to the police, but he was able to convince the guy to tell where the woman was so he could call an ambulance which got there in time to save her life. If the confessor had not been confident in the seal of the confessional, he almost certainly would not have gone to confession at all or told a soul and she would have died.

Of course, the priest can try to talk him into turning himself in, getting psychiatric help, etc.

Answer 2

The priest is bound by his oath to the church not to confess anything in the confessional. The priest however can tell you that your penance, what you do to reconcile yourself with God, is to go to the authorities and turn yourself in and receive what is due to you. A priest can never refer to a persons confession, he can say that one time someone came in and confessed this type of act but he cannot say a man with brown hair, etc.. confessed. Anything that is said in the confessional stays in the confessional, the priest is trained never to tell anyone outside of the confessional about what was said in it, not even the confessor, if you said you were guilty of stabbing someone and after the confession went to the priest and said thank you for your help the priest would not be able to tell you anything about your confession. Due to the abuses the government has been trying to make confession less private and to have any criminal activities presented to the police. So in short, Anything said in the confessional stays in the confessional, no matter what the sin is, the penance still applies outside of confession though.

Answer 3

One further point that should be mentioned. Any priest that violates the seal of confession is immediately and automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church, de facto, even if such a violation never comes to the attention of the bishop or other Church authorities.

There was a pretty good old movie called I Confess, by Alfred Hitchcock, which dealt with this theme. A crime that was confessed, the priest knew who had confessed it, and all that the priest went through rather than divulge the contents of that confession.

Answer 4

No he is bound to keep it to himself however he is able to communicate with the penentant outside of the confessional in the possibility for further discussion which he then can use

Answer 5

I've always wondered this, like if some terrorist went to a church and confessed everything would they be able to tell the police?