Louisiana Supreme Court Upholds Catholic Confessional Seal

The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that priests are not required to report what they hear in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The court ruled: “A priest when administering the sacrament of confession has no duty to report any confidential communications made during the confession that, by the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, he is authorized to hear and is also duty bound to keep confidential.”

A priest of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, had been directed to testify about what a 14-year-old allegedly told him in Confession.  The young woman said that she told the priest about being molested by a member of his parish.  The priest had refused to testify, citing the inviolability of the confessional seal.

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