Ireland pushes priests to report confessed sex abuse

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Ireland's prime minister said Catholic priests could
be jailed for failing to report child sex abuse crimes they hear during
the sacrament of confession, regardless of the confidentiality imposed
by church law.

"The law of the land should not be stopped by a crozier or by a
collar," said Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Thursday (July 14), a day
after a government-sponsored commission criticized a bishop for failing
to report allegations of clerical sex abuse. 

A report published on Wednesday faulted the Diocese of Cloyne for
failing to inform police about 15 allegations of clerical sex abuse from
1996-2009, including two cases in which the alleged victims were still
minors at the time of the accusations.