I would be curious about those questions as well. I am not Catholic either, but was raised Baptist and to my knowledge, there is nothing that shields a victim or perpetrator from full reporting to law enforcement after an incident is made known to Protestant clergy. Once they are made aware of an incident or crime, they are required by law to report it in full to local authorities.

Is this special dispensation granted legally to Catholics due to their theology of the priest being the facilitator and mediator between God and man for the effectation of their own personal salvation and absolution?

I find that idea most curious indeed. If this is the case, what other legal privileges are granted to other religious groups due to their theology and church doctrine?

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The short answer is, the priest can reveal nothing about what is heard in Confession that can link people to statements or events. Period. If they do so they are automatically excommunicated for profanation of the sacraments, and must go to the Pope to lift the excommunication and be absolved.

Now things that are merely said in private or confidence are not the same as confession, and in those cases the priest should act with the similar prudence of a doctor or therapist in terms of confidence vs personal or public welfare.

So if a man confesses to murder or some other such crime, the priest can, and probably would, advise them to turn themselves in for the good of their soul, and likely withhold absolution if the penitent is not penitent about their actions and does not resolve to do anything about it. Dying with unabsolved mortal sins means they are damned, so this in no light matter. However, the priest cannot command someone to reveal what they have confessed.

The sacrament of Confession is a specific event. It generally happens in a confessional or if needed another private room (hospital room, office, etc). No Catholic accidentally goes to confession, but I have heard of non-Catholics who don't know the details walking into a confessional thinking it is just some sort of quiet chat with counseling. This is not the same as someone telling the priest something in private or confidence. Something like that does not count as a confession (unless it turns into one by the petitioner telling the priest of their sins and asking for absolution, theoretically possible).

So back to my original statement, I find it very odd that a Catholic would tell a priest something only in confession that they expected the priest to act upon. A private meeting, a whispered confidence, an anonymous letter, any of those I could understand and would expect the priest to look into, but Confession is known, or should be known, by Catholics as a place of absolute confidence.

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