A bill introduced into Franceʼs national legislature specifically targets the seal of confession and would expand government control over state-subsidised private schools. Source: EWTN News.
France’s National Assembly approved the bill for consideration on Monday. It is aimed at preventing and combating violence in schools, but the countryʼs bishops warn that it could put the seal of confession in jeopardy.
The French Bishops’ Conference contends the legislative initiative infringes upon several fundamental freedoms, including freedom of conscience, freedom of education, and freedom of worship.
Although the bishops support the governmentʼs intention to combat psychological, physical, and sexual violence perpetrated against children and adolescents, they specifically expressed concern that the proposed legislation could compromise the seal of confession and the autonomy of Catholic education.
The bishops point to Article 9 of the bill, which mandates the obligation to report acts of violence against minors even if knowledge of such acts was acquired in the exercise of the priestly ministry and adds that no “seal of confession” may be invoked to override said obligation.
The prelates further warned that the measure would jeopardise the autonomy of Catholic schools, as it provides for an expansion of state control over government-subsidised private institutions.
The French bishops maintain that these new oversight measures could open the door to greater state intervention in areas such as moral formation, affective and sexual education, or even teaching Christian anthropology.
They point out that the state would also have the authority to impose administrative sanctions and even order the closure of schools that fail to comply with the established regulations.
In July 2019, the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary published a note regarding the importance of the private nature and the inviolability of the sacramental seal in order to highlight the importance and foster a better understanding of these concepts, “which today seem to have become more alien to public opinion and sometimes to civil juridical systems”.
“The inviolable secrecy of confession comes directly from the revealed divine right and is rooted in the very nature of the sacrament, to the point of not admitting any exception in the ecclesial sphere, nor, least of all, in the civil one,” the note states.
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French bishops warn proposed bill threatens seal of confession (By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú, EWTN News)
