That's why the protection of the confessions is evil. "If we told no one would confess any more." So what? Your super-confession means nothing. People can confess directly to their God or brother and get somewhere. Priests have no super powers with God. If there were a god he would puke on the Catholic Church.

I 'm big on Biographies, but more so by the Authors and their time they spend documenting and footnoting what they find. A few years ago I got hold of the Life of Martin Luther which after I saw a You Tube of it was able to find his Bio that was written by Roland Bainton "Her I Stand" I spent more time looking up Religious terms and Definitions because they were so important in understanding what was going on and how it was being orchestrated. I found out more about the Catholic Church than I ever thought I could imagine. He goes into the confession dilemma and what was going on in Rome at that time. Now you have to remember that this man was a very pious Monk who was a Professor of Theology and was responsible for translating the Bible into German and with the aid of the Printing Press made it available for everyone to read which at the time no one had a clue what was written because the only copies were in Latin and the Church didn't want you to know what was written. Lots to read about in that one and I would recommend it to anyone who has a penchance for the history of religion which brings alot of thing that you never knew or were erroneously led to believe because you didn't know where to go.

Absolutely hate this crap. No one should be put in this position. In the Psych field we had the Tarasoff's Act - which allowed us to report someone planning to do harm (or who had done harm). We had two pedophile priests in my hometown and that's only 1 reason I became Agnostic and then Atheist. (Yes been there done that had it screw up my life). (Google) Tarasoff's Act: The legal duty of a psychiatrist or psychotherapist to warn an identifiable victim of a patient's serious threat of harm has been well recognized in U.S. jurisprudence and clinical practice since the Tarasoff decision of the Supreme Court of California in 1976.

Confession is not a sacrament and cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. Nothing about Priests not being married. The mainstay of that argument is monetary. Plenty written about Jesus and Mary Magdelene who the Catholic Church had to confess was not a prostitute but one of the more knowledgeable of all of his followers whom is recorded by the other Apostles to kissing Jesus on the lips. According to Jewish Law a Rabbi had to marry have a family. She was the only one who witnessed the crucifixion and the resurrection. Look up her Gospels as well as the Gospel of Thomas and will get a totally different view of what you have been taught or were made to think was true. I would like to see the Cardinal go to prison where he will learn how to hear real confessions among those in General Population where I am sure they will give him much to think about. Aiding and Abetting a Felon is a Civil Crime of the Highest and we are talking a crime that any other citizen would be faced with serious prison and humiliation for his actions. I never saw any exceptions written in for Clergy of any denominations. I rest my case for now but I have much more to mention.

Just lock him up. The Catholic Church certainly has a great track record on abuse of children.

Should be laws passed that people who support/encourage others to hide pedos will be jailed.

[all the confessions he has heard, he heard it not as a person but as "the ears of God"]

So he does exactly what God does: nothing

I love this video:

Hart insisted that sexual abuse was “a spiritual encounter with God through the priest” and was “of a higher order” than criminal law.

I can't believe I just read that. Speechless