Well everyone seems to only refer to the confession of the criminal, but this is only one [and a very unlikely] possibility. Rather, the priest might hear the confession of a third-party or even more likely of the victim him/herself (if indeed they were actually a victim) who deeply trusts the priest to never tell anyone else about what happened.

Suppose a certain boy (or girl) sexually seduced a disabled adult. The adult found it too hard to resist the child's advances (because in their condition they otherwise have no sex-life), thus the child gained their trust, entered their house and stole all their money. Please don't tell me that things like that do not happen!

Now the child feels guilty - and rightly so, so they repent and go to confession. They ARE the guilty party, so why should the actual victim suffer more instead? Under the new law, the child will never confess, probably because there will no longer be any confessions held as no priest will be willing to risk jail. The child will therefore receive no spiritual guidance, will have to keep it all inside and will continue to perpetrate similar crimes.

Another possibility is the confession of the child's parent who somehow finds out about the abuse, but knows too well that their child desperately wants to keep it secret so if the parent told the police (directly or otherwise), then they will be hated and lose all trust by their son/daughter forever who would (rightly) feel bitterly betrayed. Suppose the parent feels guilty because they believed that the abuse happened due to their own negligence - why can't such a suffering parent at least be able to confide in a priest?

Confession is not about forgiving/absolution: the enormous value of confessing is in the fact of telling someone else, anyone really, about exactly what you've done. In that alone rests the healing - the absolution is only a carrot to encourage people to confess, rather than the true reason why one ought to confess.

I'm sure that runner is capable of laughing at the two halfwits who have resorted to calling him names and insulting him. He has faith and beliefs; they have nothing.

Hi Issy, gathering evidence no problem, The Inquisition will do the trick. 5 mins on the rack and Fr Fookemup will be singing like a bird. In fact he'll be confessing to all sorts of sins, even those of his mate Br Stickitinem. First offence let off with only a drawn and quarter. Do it again and well it will be a bit of nasty punishment a second time around. Burning of his entrails is very popular this season, and the guilty bugger gets to watch what a bonus.

Paul,

Obviously you have no idea; so I eagerly await someone telling us all how the evidence will be collected.

Surely the MsP who voted for this Bill could give us some idea as they must have considered the matter during their discussions in the run up to the vote.

Sorry Issy, do you prefer thumb screws? How about the Iron Maiden? When I was a good little CATHOLIC BOY I went to Confession many times "Bless me Father for I have sinned...." I would make up sins to keep the old git happy, but the old b always wanted to know if you ever had impure thoughts or actions...like jerkn' the gerkin me thinks given half a chance the old b would have the kiddies jerkn' his gerkin or some such thing.

Paul,

How's your eyesight?

Probably very good, so now you know that your favourite practice doesn't make you go blind.

How would you collect the evidence?

You're not alone in avoiding answering this question.

As I said before it's a bit of feel good legislation.