From Wikipedia:
"According to Roman Catholic canon law, "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." The confessor is always an ordained priest, because in the Catholic Church only ordained priests can absolve sins; lay confession is not recognized. Any person who overhears a confession is likewise bound by the seal."

If Australia passed a law making it compulsory for priests to report instances of child molestation that were confessed to them, would such a law be workable or would it be a useless piece of political grandstanding?

Such a law could serve as a potential wake-up call for the church.

For centuries, the church has been rubbing shoulders with the secular regime, benefiting from its funds and diluting its own teachings - but this would no longer be tolerable, so hopefully it could spell the end of that unholy romance.

The church could be much more religiously-effective as an underground movement!

One possibility will be the creation of new martyrs, who will be proudly dragged to jail, keeping their mouth shut.

Short of this, confessions will no longer be conducted in Australia, save for the dying who will take their secrets to their grave. Perhaps people will then be flying overseas to confess, but better still, states could break away from the commonwealth and stop being subject to its laws - in that case, people will start travelling interstate to confess.

The Catholic confessional has knobs on it. Apart from the bizarre belief that a priest - a mere human being like the rest of us - can absolve sins, they don't seem to get the difference between sins and crimes. Child abuse, for instance, is a crime, not a sin, and should be reported to police. Teachers, medical practitioners etc. are required by law to report any abuse that comes to their notice; so should Catholic priests be so required. Do these priests really believe that their God would want child abusers to escape the legal consequences of their crimes?

ttbn,

"The Catholic confessional has knobs on it. Apart from the bizarre belief that a priest - a mere human being like the rest of us - can absolve sins,
[no one believes that, or if they do then they are seriously misinformed]
they don't seem to get the difference between sins and crimes. Child abuse, for instance, is a crime, not a sin,
[child abuse is a sin and a crime]
and should be reported to police.
[of course, it should be, but not without some evidence]
Teachers, medical practitioners etc. are required by law to report any abuse that comes to their notice; so should Catholic priests be so required. Do these priests really believe that their God would want child abusers to escape the legal consequences of their crimes?[no, of course not]

How do you propose that priests report child molesters that may go to confession?

Before answering inform yourself a bit more about Confession and the practical aspects of identifying a penitent.

"How do you propose that priests report child molesters that may go to confession?"

In exactly the same way as other officials do.

ttbn,

You didn't take my advice; one of the problems is that the priest usually cannot see the penitent, so does not know who he, or she, is.

Still, I suppose that the priest could ask them their name and address but there would be no obligation to give a correct answer.

CCTV? Tape recording?