Q&A Home > C > Confession

In the Holy Mystery of Confession, is the priest bound by the seal of Confession or are there circumstances where the priest can reveal, such as murder or rape, the sin to the proper authorities? Can the priest also force the penitents to turn themselves in as a requirement for confession?

I have noticed that almost all evangelical churches do not have the seal. Even Eastern Orthodox are starting to drop the seal in certain circumstances, due to the gravity of the matter, or requiring their penitent to turn themselves in as a condition for absolution.

I thought all the ancient apostolic sees required the seal.

The Holy Mystery of Confession is a sacred seal. All matters confessed are kept in strict confidentiality. However, the priest does not only hear the confessors' sins, which is conditional for obtaining absolution, but the priest also disciplines, instructs, and admonishes their disciple to do what is right and to sin no more. Confession without true repentance is of no benefit, even if one receives absolution. The mere fact that if the person confessing had not really repented, once he is out the door, he will undoubtedly repeat the same sin over and over again. 

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).