What the church’s ‘oath of perpetual silence’ really means

JOSEPH BARRY (Irish Examiner letters, June 1) wrongly concludes that “the strictest secret” in the Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis refers to “the secrets which a Catholic priest hears from penitents in confession.”

On the contrary, Crimen Sollicitationis makes no reference whatsoever to this.

The document concerns itself only with the crimes committed by priests and religious such as “the worst crime” of sex abuse inflicted upon “youths of either sex or with brute animals” and “the unspeakable crime” of soliciting for sex in the confessional.