VATICAN (CNS): The need for the absolute secrecy of confession “comes directly from revealed divine law and has its roots in the very nature of the sacrament to the point that no exception whatsoever can be admitted in the ecclesial sphere and even less in the civil one,” a new Vatican document said. 
 
The “note of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the sacramental seal” was approved by Pope Francis on June 21 and published by the Vatican July 1.

SYDNEY (CNS): “We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable people while maintaining the seal. We do not see safeguarding and the seal as mutually exclusive,” Australia’s Catholic bishops and religious orders, said on August 31 in response to recommendations from the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, accepted 98 per cent of its suggestions, but stressed they could not accept recommendations that would violate the seal of confession.
 

SYDNEY (CNS): “The government threatens religious freedom by appointing itself an expert on religious practices and by attempting to change the sacrament of confession while delivering no improvement in the safety of children,” wrote Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn in The Canberra Times on June 7 in response to the passing of the Ombudsman Amendment Bill 2018 by the Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly.