Confession

These priests were martyred for refusing to violate the seal of confession
- Catholic News Agency, Global Church
- August 23, 2017
Priests take the solemnity of the seal of confession very seriously; these four priests who died protecting it are witnesses to the extreme lengths to which priests are willing to go to protect the seal of confession.
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Commission in Australia says priests should report abuse heard in confession
- Global Church
- August 14, 2017
Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says the right to practice one’s religious beliefs “must accommodate civil society’s obligation to provide for the safety of all and, in particular, children’s safety from sexual abuse.” Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said in a statement the inviolability of the seal of confession is a “fundamental part of the freedom of religion.”
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Müller’s defense of ‘Amoris Laeitia’ reads it in Church tradition
- Commentary, Vatican
- June 3, 2017
Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says ‘Amoris Laetitia’ only allows divorced and remarried access to the sacraments of Communion and Reconciliation “if they are ready to live as sisters and brothers,” and refrain from sexual relations.
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Pope confesses, hears confessions in Lenten service
- Catholic News Service, Vatican
- March 19, 2017
A booklet given to congregants at pope’s Lenten service begins by asking people their reasons for going to confession: “Do I approach the sacrament of penance out of a sincere desire for purification, conversion, renewal of life and a closer friendship with God, or do I consider it a burden that I am only rarely willing to take on?”
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Pope Francis: Don’t hesitate to use an exorcist if necessary
- Vatican
- March 17, 2017
According to Pope Francis, confessors should not be averse to referring their penitents to exorcists if they suspect demonic activity is at work, and after consulting psychological professionals. The pontiff said the ministry of confession takes place on the “peripheries of evil and sin.”
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The unraveling of Catholicism’s rich sacramental tapestry
- Commentary, Global Church
- March 9, 2017
Father Robert Imbelli wonders whether the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, after fifty years of checkered reception, has resulted in a new Pentecost or a new Babel. He ponders whether the idea and practice of sacramental Catholicism has been discarded by some to the detriment of many.
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