Rethinking Child Confessions: A Call for Delay in the Catholic Church

Even the confessions of children are not exempt from the risk of potential sexual abuses because the confessional could foster manipulative behaviors or ambiguous relationships. This is a shocking reflection that is gaining ground in the German Catholic communities to the point that in the diocese of Freiburg, Germany, a commission tasked with addressing abuses has brought the problem to light, asking to set aside confessions for the very young, and postponing them to an older age. According to the Catholic agency KNA, the diocese's study showed that administering this sacrament to children of the First Communion could be a 'starting point for sexual abuses', consequently, the commission's recommendation is to abandon it. A prudential measure. Due to the close relationship between the child and the priest, the situation that is created could 'open the possibility of manipulative behavior towards children and minors to the point of violating their boundaries'. 'I am the son of a pedophile priest who abused my 14-year-old mother,' the shocking story of Eric Zattoni. Experts have requested that children of 7 and 8 years old no longer be invited to their first confession. Much more sensible, they write, to wait until they are 15 or 16 years old. The motivations developed by psychologists leverage the fact that the little ones at that age hardly have a clear and conscious vision of guilt and sin. The Archdiocese of Freiburg has thus been called to take action and, if necessary, provide new regulations. At the meeting with the priests of Rome, Pope Francis also evoked the case of Rupnik, the former Jesuit expelled from the Order for abuses. The confession or sacrament of penance, for the Church, has enormous significance. During confession, believers reveal their mistakes and express their remorse while the priest absolves the believer from sins on behalf of God. The priest is then bound to absolute secrecy by the seal of confession. Pope Francis has often encouraged priests to be lenient, merciful, and to forgive everything. 'Please, brothers, forgive everything, always forgive, without delving too much into consciences; let people say their things and you receive that like Jesus, with the caress of your look, with the silence of your understanding. Please, the sacrament of confession is not to torture, but is to give peace. Forgive everything, as God will forgive everything to you. Everything, everything, everything.'