SYDNEY (SE): The three weeks of public shaming of the Australian Church before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held in Sydney, concluded on February 23 with the archbishops of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide being jointly cross-examined on a number of issues, including the sacramental seal of confession.

SYDNEY (SE): Five archbishops in Australia told a hearing at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on February 24 that they would seek a clarification from the Vatican as to whether the seal of the confessional extends beyond the confession of sin to cover a person who tells of being the victim of a crime.

The bishops were being questioned on a hypothetical case of a young girl telling a priest in the confessional that she was being sexually abused.

SYDNEY (SE): The 21 days of shame of the Church in Australia reached its 14th day on February 17, but tended to drop out of the news as the submissions being made to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse were focussed more on structural problems rather the grizzly details that dominated the first week.

SYDNEY (SE): On February 6, the Catholic Church in Australia began its 21 days of shame, as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse launched its final intensive review of the response of the Catholic Church to the crisis at a hearing in Sydney that will involve more than 60 witnesses, including the archbishops of the six most influential dioceses.