Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli would rather ‘keep the seal’ of confession than report child sexual abuse

Melbourne’s most senior Catholic figure would risk jail time rather than report child abuse revealed in confession, he says.

Melbourne’s most senior Catholic figure would risk jail time rather than report child sexual abuse revealed in confession, he says.

Archbishop Peter Comensoli, who has been in the job for 12 months, said today that he would “keep the seal” if somebody reported child sexual abuse to him during the sacrament of confession.

The Archbishop made the comments on ABC Radio Mornings when host John Faine asked him what he would do in such a hypothetical scenario.

It follows the introduction of a bill to Victoria’s Parliament today that would make religious ministers mandatory reporters of abuse suspicions alongside police, teachers, medical practitioners and early childhood reporters.

The bill would mean priests who do not report child abuse revealed to them could be jailed for up to three years for their silence.

Asked by Jon Faine on @abcmelbourne whether he would report child sex abuse revealed to him in the confessional, Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop @BishopComensoli says ‘personally I would keep the seal.’

— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) August 14, 2019

It’s not the first time Archbishop Comensoli has spoken about the dilemma facing priests.

In a pastoral letter issued last year when the laws were flagged, he wrote that he was “strongly committed to reporting to the appropriate authorities” but “I am also strongly committed to upholding the seal of confession”.

Today, he made his stance clear.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy told reporters this morning that religious views come second to the need for keeping children safe.

“I don’t think in contemporary and mainstream times, knowing what we know now, that we can do anything other than say the rights of children trump anyone’s religious views,” Ms Hennessy said.

“Ultimately this is about making sure that we start to right the wrongs of systemic abuse.

“I would expect anyone who is aware of a commission of a crime would have the wherewithal and the personal ethics to report that crime.”

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli says he would not report child abuse if it was told to him during confession.

The Andrews Labor Government’s reforms would have another key feature. They would allow survivors of institutionalised abuse to apply to the Supreme Court to overturn “unfair” compensation settlements previously signed with churches.

The legislation would also mean anyone denied a working with children check for serious crimes such as rape and murder would no longer be able to appeal that refusal.

Victoria’s Liberal-National opposition has previously indicated it would back a law mandating priests report child abuse allegations.

But party leader Michael O’Brien on Tuesday said he wanted to see the details of the bill.

“I’d like to think that in Victoria in 2019, we can make sure we can protect kids and we should also be able to respect freedom of religion,” he said.

Crossbench MP Fiona Patten welcomed the government’s move, saying: “I think that Jesus would mandatory report.”

With AAP