An Australian inquiry into child abuse has recommended that the Catholic Church get rid of its requirement for celibacy from clergy and clarify the extent that the 'seal of the confession' applies to evidence of child abuse.
However, senior leaders in Australia's Catholic church have rejected calls by the wide-reaching investigation into child abuse to end mandatory celibacy for priests and break the secrecy of confession.
The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which concluded Thursday after five years of work, delivered a total of 189 new recommendations to address what it described as a "serious failure" by Australia's institutions to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
The landmark report estimates tens of thousands of children have been abused in Australian institutions, in what the commission described as a "national tragedy."
The Catholic Church alone was the target of about 20 recommendations. In what would amount to a radical shake-up of centuries of tradition and religious orthodoxy, the recommendations called for protocols for screening priests, mandatory reporting of religious confessions and a suggestion to end mandatory celibacy for priests.
But the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher refused to consider breaking the sanctity of confession, calling it a "distraction," while adding ending celibacy would not necessarily end child abuse.
Fisher told a press conference Friday that "I think the debates about celibacy will go on however people respond to this issue
"We know very well that institutions who have celibate clergy and institutions that don't have celibate clergy both face this problem. We know very well that this happens in families that are certainly not observing celibacy. It is an issue for everyone, celibate or not."
Fisher added that any proposal to effectively stop the practice of confession in Australia "would be a real hurt to all Catholics and orthodox Christians and I don't think would help any young person."
Senior Catholic figure Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart echoed the views of Fisher, saying that while he fully apologised on behalf of the church, he "couldn't" report any child abuse revealed to him inside a confessional.
Speaking at a press conference Friday, the Archbishop added that while he would be unable to report revelations made inside a confessional, he "would certainly insist that if a person came to me and confessed those heinous crimes I would refuse them absolution until they went (to the) authorities," Hart told reporters.
