Dear Is Mise,

A priest cannot break the Seal of the Confessional.
No matter what. He could try to persuade the confessor
to turn himself in to the authorities but the priest
could not testify as to what was told to him in a
Confessional. He would be excommunicated if he did.

On the other side of the coin -

Our State is a secular State and there is not a separate
stream of law derived from religious sources that
competes with or supplants Australian law. We have one
law we are all expected to abide by. The law enacted by the
Parliament under the Australian Constitution. Religious
laws have no legal status in our country.

However, I'm not sure how you would get priests to
abide by State laws that would go against the laws of
their Church. Therefore, I doubt very much whether any
Government in this country would force such laws onto
the Church. It would politically be a disaster.

The answer is simple, if priests become lawyers then they cannot discuss their conversations with anyone.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Lawyers have to obey the law like everyone else.
Priests are bound to a higher authority.

Dear Ttbn,

«they don't seem to get the difference between sins and crimes.»

Priests are supposed to recognise a sin. Whether they actually can or not is a different question, but in any case it is not their role to recognise 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 you do not consider child-abuse to be a sin?
In my view it usually is.
And also in my view, obeying the above law by reporting people to the regime - is also a sin!

«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?»

Some priests may believe so, others not - either way, the priest's private beliefs are totally irrelevant: all that matters here is the sanctity of the confession.

Lets have a counter-example: a person was charged with murder and is now on death-row. In his last confession, he informs the priest in full detail that it was someone else who committed the murder, but that he is happy to die in their place. Still, whether the information is positive or negative, the priest may not disclose it to anyone.

Passing a law to require priests to report what they may hear in Confession would be unworkable and so easily circumvented that to pass such a law would be a waste of time and money, hmmm, the Government will probably pass one then!

Religion is fake, simply go back a century or less and if you commit any sin go to the church and pay them for absolution, miraculously your sins are forgiven.

Religion is for money and people control.