Threatened.
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Roman Catholic priests in Ireland may once again face official Government persecution and imprisonment if a new law passes requiring them to break the seal of the confessional and reveal crimes confessed in the sacrament of reconciliation. The Church was formerly persecuted during the period known as the Penal Laws - and not since then has the Church faced such hostility. I'm not sure even the Communists and Nazis were able to pull off such an abuse of religious freedom. Catholic priests are renowned for preserving the seal of the confessional, and they have a few patron saints to prove it, amongst them St. John Nepomucene (story below) and Blessed Felipe Ciscar Puig, "considered a martyr of the sacramental seal as he was shot for refusing to reveal the confession of a Franciscan priest who was himself executed, during the Spanish persecution of 1936"
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Irish law would limit religious freedom.
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Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny promised to introduce a new law that would jail priests for up to five years if they failed to tell the authorities about crimes of sexual abuse disclosed during confessions.
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“The law of the land should not be stopped by a crozier or a collar,” Kenny told journalists July 14.
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Such a proposition runs contrary to the internal law of the Catholic Church known as Canon Law. It says of confession that “the sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason,” with the punishment for such a breach being “a latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.”
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“It will end up with priests being put in jail,” said Father Paul Hayward, editor of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland’s journal Abstracts.
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“We have to get greater clarity as to what exactly is being proposed but, certainly, no priest who values their priesthood would ever break the seal of confession. This could make martyrs of a lot of Irish priests.” - CNA
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Art: St. John Nepomucene, martyr of the confessional.
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Brief biography from Catholic Online: In his early childhood, John Nepomucene was cured of a disease through the prayers of his good parents. In thanksgiving, they consecrated him to the service of God. After he was ordained, he was sent to a parish in the city of Prague. He became a great preacher, and thousands of those who listened to him changed their way of life. Father John was invited to the court of Wenceslaus IV. He settled arguments and did many kind deeds for the needy people of the city. He also became the queen's confessor. When the king was cruel to the queen, Father John taught her to bear her cross patiently. One day, about 1393, the king asked him to tell what the queen had said in confession. When Father John refused, he was thrown into prison. A second time, he was asked to reveal the queen's confession. "If you do not tell me," said the king, "you shall die. But if you obey my commands, riches and honor will be yours." Again Father John refused. He was tortured. The king ordered to be thrown into the river. Where he drowned, a strange brightness appeared upon the water. He is known as the "martyr of the confessional." He is patron of Czechoslovakia, where he is invoked against floods and against slander. His feast day is May 16. - Source
