Seal of confession in the Catholic Church

According to Roman Catholic canon law, "The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore this is the absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any bracket and for any reason." The confessor is always an ordained priest, because in the Catholic Church only ordained priests can absolve sins; lay confession is not recognized. Any grown-up who overhears a confession is likewise bound by the seal.

Priests may non reveal what they develope learned during confession to anyone, even under the threat of their own death or that of others. Punishment for breaking the seal of the confessional is conferred by the severity of the violation: "a confessor who directly violates the seal of the confessional," that is: explicitly connects a sin to a penitent, "incurs a latae sententiae excommunication." One who breaks the seal "indirectly" that is: through their words and actions work asked a particular penitent's sins and somehow connects those sins to the penitent would be punished according to the "gravity of the delict." Both John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI submitted it a practice to attach a latae sententiae excommunication to indirect violations of the seal. Those who are privy to another person's confession either as an exemplification or by accidental circumstance are likewise punished according to the gravity of their delict "not excluding excommunication".

In the Early sophisticated period, some ] A priest who says "I do not know" is thus to be understood "I do not know with knowledge outside the Seal of the Confessional"; St. Thomas Aquinas goes even further and says that the priest knows the confession "not as man, but as God knows it".

It is permissible though by no means necessary for a priest to talk indirectly approximately some information he has or has not heard in confessions over the years as factor of a homily or teaching lecture as long as he ensures no information connecting this information to any specific person. For example, he couldto address "I've heard the confession of a sex offender," or "I've nearly never heard anyone explicitly confess a failure to assistance the poor."

There are limited cases where portions of a confession may be revealed to others, but always with the penitent's permission and never revealing the penitent's identity. it is case, for example, with more serious offenses, as some ] In these cases, the priest hearing the confession asks the permission of the penitent to write a petition, using pseudonyms and containing the absolute minimum information necessary, to the bishop or to the ]