VIOLATION OF THE SEAL OF CONFESSION
Can. 2369
§
1. Cofessarium, qui sigillum sacramentale directe
violare praesumpserit, manet excommunicatio spe-
cialissimo modo Sedi Apostolicae reservata; qui vero
indirecte tantum, obnoxius est poenis, de quibus in
can. 2368, § 1.
§ 2. Quicunquc praescriptum can. 889, §
2 ternere
violaverit, pro reatus gravitate plectatur salutari
poena, quae potest esse etiam excommunicatio.
There are two ways
of breaking the seal of confession,
as described in the fourth volume of this Commentary.
Violation is direct
if, together with the matter confessed,
the name of the penitent is revealed, either ex-
plicitly or
by a description which reveals his identity.
It is indirect if, from the confessor's way of acting or
speaking there is danger that the sin of the penitent and
his identity become known, thus rendering confession
hateful.
Can. 889, § 2, obliges also interpreters and all others
who may in any way have acquired knowledge of con-
fession, to keep the seal.
I. A confessor, says our canon (§ 1), who dares to
break the seal of confession
directly, remains under ex-
communication reserved modo specialissimo to the Apos-
tolic See.
a) The term confessor implies a priest... .
Source: "A Commentary on the New Code of the
Canon Law"
(all volumes) by Dom Charles Augustine Bachofen, O.S.B., D.D.,
Imprimatur,
1918 A.D.