Priests can withold anyhting said to them in confession...........how else could you account for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness still being free men ?
So if I commited a dreadful crime and then confessed to it in a Catholic Church the priest has the right to remain silent on the matter if questioned by the police?
I certainly couldn't be a lawyer and act as defence for somebody I knew to be guilty and could go on to commit other crimes. And I certainly would have to go to the police and tell all if I were a priest. Surely it is more Christian to tell the police than to shield a murderer??
You're wrong on that one monkeyeyes.....a lawyer CAN act for someone he knows to be guilty - it's called providing a defence.
Even if the client has pleaded guilty a lawyer will try to minimise the sentence by mitigation.
I've known some particularly sleazy criminal lawyers in my time and I'm sure many of them have KNOWN their client was guilty but have taken instruction and provided a defence based on whatever lies the client tells them.
I thought that the priest must first encourage the murderer to go to the police. If after the third time the criminal has not confessed to the police, the priest can do it himself.
Lets face it, why would a priest let om what someone had confessed to them. They have been hiding the child molester priests for years, is it really a surprise?