Indonesian police identify couple responsible for attack on Filipino cathedral

July 25, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Jakarta, Indonesia, Jul 25, 2019 / 01:58 pm (CNA).- Indonesian authorities released Tuesday the names of a couple whom they believe to have orchestrated a January terrorist attack on a cathedral in the Philippines.

Dedi Prasetyo, spokesman for Indonesia’s National Police, said July 23 that Rullie Rian Zeke and his wife Ulfah Handayani Saleh had detonated suicide bombs at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo.

Prasetyo said police discovered the identity of the bombers last month when they arrested an Islamic militant who recruited the Indonesian couple.

Before the husband and wife had underwent a government sponsored deradicalization program, they had been involved with Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an outlawed Islamic extremist organization allied to the Islamic State group.

Two bombs exploded during Mass at the seat of the Vicariate Apostolic of Jolo Jan. 27, killing at least 20 and injuring at least 111 others.

The Filipino bishops’ conference condemned the attack as an “act of terrorism.” The Islamic State, which has ties to the local Muslim insurgent group Abu Sayyaf, claimed responsibility for the attack. Attacks by Abu Sayyaf against Catholics in the region are not uncommon.

The cathedral was rededicated July 23 during a Mass said by Archbishop Gabrielle Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, along with Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Archbishop Emeritus of Cotabato.

Jonathan Luciano, national director of Aid to the Church in Need in the Philippines, said the clerics offered words of hope and encouragement.

“[Cardinal Quevedo] described how inspiring the people of Jolo were because of their faith and resilience despite constant persecution,” Luciano said in a recent report.

“At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Caccia assured people that the Church of Christ and the Christian community [are] with them…They are not forgotten or neglected. This is not only manifested with financial assistance, but through the solidarity of prayer all over the world,” he added.

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Tasmania may criminalize priests for upholding seal of confession

October 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Hobart, Australia, Oct 2, 2018 / 02:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic priests in the Australian state of Tasmania could face jail time if they fail to report sexual abuse disclosed during the sacrament of confession, ABC news (Australia) has reported.

Draft legislation put forth by the government of the island would make mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse a criminal matter for religious leaders. Many public sector workers already face fines if they fail to report suspected abuse, according to ABC.

The Tasmanian proposal comes amid various attempts by authorities throughout Australia to mandate the breaking of the confessional seal to report cases of child sex abuse, and pushback from Catholics in the country.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse released a report in December 2017 that included 409 recommendations aimed at curbing child sex abuse in the country. The Royal Commission recommended to all Australian states that their laws governing child abuse reporting “should not exempt persons in religious ministry from being required to report knowledge or suspicions formed, in whole or in part, on the basis of information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession.”

The Australian bishops’ conference on Aug. 31 responded positively to nearly all of the Royal Commission’s recommendations, but defended the confessional seal.

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart, the Tasmanian capital, argued that “perpetrators of [sexual abuse] very rarely seek out confession and if mandatory reporting of confessions were required they would almost certainly not confess,” as quoted by The Australian.

The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in Canberra passed a law in June requiring religious groups to report any allegations, offences or convictions of child abuse within 30 days. The state of South Australia adopted a similar law, mandating a fine for failing to report abuse, which took effect this week.

Should the proposed legislation pass, Tasmania will become the second Australian state to change their laws based on the Royal Commission’s guidelines.

In July, the attorney general of Victoria declined to accept the royal commission’s recommendentation that it require priests to break the confessional seal to report cases of child sex abuse.

The Code of Canon Law states that “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” A priest who intentionally violates the seal incurs an automatic excommunication.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “every priest who hears confessions is bound under severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him,” due to the “delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons.”

Fr. Michael Whelan, a parish priest at St. Patrick’s Church in Sydney, was quoted in local news in June as saying that he, along with other priests, would be “willing to go to jail” rather than break the seal of confession. When asked if the Church was above the law, Whelan said “absolutely not” and said he would only be protecting religious freedom.

Clerics are not the only critics of the new legislation. Andrew Wall, a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, said forcing priests to break the seal of confession oversteps an individual’s “freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of religious rights.”

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