News:

You are not signed in as a Premium user; we rely on Premium users to support our news reporting. Sign in or Sign up today!

By Peter O'Dwyer

The confidence shared by confessor and penitent is absolute. The priest can never reveal, even under pain of death, even to the person who confessed to him, what sins were absolved.

The penalty for breaking this sacred trust, known as the seal of the confessional, is excommunication reserved to the Holy See. Only the Pope or his designee can lift such a censure.

Throughout history the seal of the confession has been upheld during brutal torture, captivity and even death.

In 1393, St. John Nepomucene was threatened with death if he did not tell the king what the queen told him in confession. The saint held his ground, and was eventually drowned for his holy silence. He is considered the first, but certainly not the only, martyr of the seal of the confessional.

A Catholic priest named Andreas Faulhaber was ordered to give up the secrets of the confessional during a court martial in 18th-century Prussia. Father Faulhaber refused, and Frederick the Great himself had the priest hanged. While ascending to the gallows, Fr. Faulhaber was asked a final time to break his trust. He chose the noose instead.

During the Cristero War in Mexico, Fr. Mateo Correa was caught bringing Holy Communion to a crippled woman. A Mexican general asked the priest to hear the confessions of the other Cristero prisoners, knowing that the priest would accept. After the confessions were made, he then demanded Fr. Correa to reveal the prisoners' secrets. Father Correa was uncowed by the general's threats and was shot at dawn on February 6, 1927. Pope St. John Paul II canonized him 73 years later.

The confessional can truly be said to be sealed with the blood of the saints. Holy men have laid down their lives to protect the secrecy of their penitents, and priests today are expected to do the same in similar circumstances.

Even now, priests will not break the seal. Currently a priest in Louisiana is being sued to break the seal of confession. So far he has been faithful to the traditions of those who have gone before him.

Fear that your secrets may be revealed can never be an excuse for not frequenting the confessional. Should you put off confession because of this fear, and you die in a state of mortal sin, the martyrs of the confessional will condemn you at your judgment. In this Year of Mercy, Our Lord waits patiently for all His children to come to Him seeking mercy— which He will liberally grant to any who ask.



Watch the full episdoe: "The Download—Go to Confession!"





Have a news tip? Submit news to our tip line.