It's a cheesy title but it's the first thing that came to mind when I read about a proposed new law in Ireland that would require priests to break the seal of the confessional if a pedophile comes in to confess. Now how on earth do the Irish authorities plan to implement this? I suspect they'll use entrapment. They'll send in people to give false confessions and then arrest the priest if he doesn't call the police. This nightmare could've been avoided by exposing and kicking out bad priests instead of shuffling them around. Was it indifference, blackmail or silent consent that caused so many bishops to fail in their duty? Now we're stuck with a nightmare that will never go away. Twenty years from now, provided pedophilia hasn't been legalized by then, people will still be making accusations and whether they have a shred of evidence to back them up or not, they'll be believed.
St. John Nepomucene, martyr of the confessional, who laid down your life rather than betray a penitent, pray for your brother priests. They do not face being thrown into the Moldau river but they do face the horror of prison.
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