Hong Kong is on the verge of enacting a new domestic security law which is even more repressive than the National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 — and may well strike at the very heart of the Church’s conscience, with a potential assault on the confidentiality of the Sacrament of Penance.
One of the most dangerous, insidious, and outrageous aspects of the new security law is the proposal, made on March 7 by Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Lam Ting-kwok, regarding the crime of “failing to disclose the commission of treason by others.”
It means if a person knows that another person has committed “treason” but fails to disclose the knowledge to the authorities within a reasonable time, that person is guilty of a crime and could face 14 years in jail.
There is increasing concern that this poses an implicit threat to the Sacrament of Penance (or Reconciliation or “Confession”) in the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions – and Lam said nothing to reassure the Church to the contrary.
For Catholics, Confession is a spiritual act of pivotal importance. It is something we are encouraged to take up regularly, especially during the holy seasons of Lent and Advent.
Yet at the heart of Confession is its absolute confidentiality. The Church’s “Seal of Confession” is exactly that. What is confessed by a penitent, before a priest, in front of God stays solely between those three beings.
“Forcing a priest to reveal something said in Confession is an assault on the very integrity of the Church”
If a serious crime under law is confessed, a priest might advise a penitent to confess to the authorities — but he can never report it himself, and certainly should never be held criminally liable for having heard that confession.
I have never committed criminal acts (except under Hong Kong’s draconian laws, extraterritorially), but like all of us I sin, and while some of my flaws are already known to friends and colleagues, what I say in Confession I would not broadcast to the world.