This Letter was sent to the Costa Rica President and the President of the Legislative Assembly, but no response.
...............................................................................................................................................................,,,,,
This Letter
was sent to the Costa Rica President and the President of the Legislative
Assembly on 18th Dec.2023, but no response.
From
Date: June 18, 2019
G.
Alex Benziger,
Advocate
No.123,
Additional Law Chambers,
High
Court Buildings,
Chennai-600
104.
South
India.
To
1. HIS EXCELLENCY
Mr. CARLOSE ALVARADO QUESADA
The President of Costa Rica
Presidential Palace of the Republic of Costa
Rica
Zapote,
San José,
COSTA RICA
2. HONOURABLE
Mr. CARLOS RICARDO BENAVIDES
JIMÉNEZ (Male)
President
of the Legislative Assembly
Committee on International Relations
and Foreign Trade, Legislative Assembly
P.O. Box: 74-1013
San Jose, COSTA RICA
.
May it please your Excellency,
Sub: Proposed Bill would require Catholic priests
to tell
authorities when they
hear confessions of child abuse
and paedophilia be
entirely dropped – Regarding.
1. I
am a practicing advocate in the High Court of Judicature at Madras, South
India, with 34 years of Bar Experience. I am professing Roman Catholicism as my
religious faith. Our forefathers were converted into Christianity 300 years
before. I am hailing from Kanyakumari District, which is situated at the
Southern tip of India. I am belonging to the suppressed community (Nadar Caste)
in the Travancore Kingdom. The Travancore Kingdom was established in 1729 and
ruled till 1949. The Travancore Kingdom merged with India after two years of
its independence from the British government. Our family has the genealogy from
1754 onwards till date. (https://www.maravankudieruppu.com/genealogy.html)
2.
Now, in Costa Rica, there is a threat to the Catholic Church in respect of the
SACRAMENT OF COFESSION. In the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica Mr. Enrique Sanchez is to introduce a bill to force the clergy report the sexual abuse of minors
found while hearing the confession. And also President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica has called on the nation to
“discuss as a society” possible legislative action to force Catholic priests to
reveal to the authorities what they hear in confessions about child abuse and
paedophilia.
3. As
per the Catholic Church Law, Canon 229 (i) of the Code of Canon Law, I am duty
bound to write this letter to Your Excellency that some forces are trying to
destroy Christianity.
4. We
believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord God and His teachings are binding us.
After His Resurrection, He directed His disciples that “Whose sins you forgive
are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:19-23) and
therefore, we should obey the Will of God. It is impossible that the Church
will go against this verse. It is impossible we the Catholics go against our
conscience. Pursuant to every Catholic priest take oath to the Church, and the
priest is never to break that seal. If necessary, the priests are preferring to
Death, rather than break the Seal of Confession.
5.
Catholics believe that in the confessional we can tell God everything that is
on our heart and seek his healing mercy. The priest is only an instrument; he
stands in the “person of Christ.” We confess our sins — not to a man but to
God. Therefore, Confession is sacred — to every priest and every Catholic.
6.
Catholic doctrine of the seal of confession dates back to the Fourth Lateran
Council of 1215, which mandated that Catholics confess their grave sins to a
priest via the sacrament of Penance. Further, the Code of Canon Law, Canon
983(i) states: “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime
for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in other manner or
for any reason”. The penalty for any priest who divulges anything heard in
confession—or even a penitent’s identity—is automatic excommunication. As per
the Canon 1388(i) states that “A confessor who directly violates the sacramental
seal, incurs a “latae sententiae” excommunication”.
7. A bill is to be proposed by Deputy Enrique Sanchez, a member of the
president’s left-of-Centre Citizen Action Party, the bill would amend Article
206 of Costa Rica’s criminal code and require clergy and others who have
contact with young people to report allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
Priests who fail to report what they heard in confession about child sex abuse
would be subject to fines, the bill stipulates. Currently, Costa Rican law
notes that only teachers and health care professional are mandated reporters of
child sex abuse. “We are expanding the requirement so that it is not only
education and health centres but also places where children gather, ranging
from sports, cultural and religious organizations,” Sanchez told local media.
“Therefore, it would include responsible persons, for example, in the churches,
in being obliged to report to the Public Ministry when they hear of a case or
suspect abuse.” Sanchez claimed that the obligation to inform authorities about
suspected cases of child abuse is not limited to what is heard in confession
but includes what mandated reporters hear outside the confessional. Sanchez
explained that under current law, clergy, some public officials, attorneys and
other professionals can abstain from giving court testimony even when they have
privileged knowledge about the abuse of minors.
8. The above said proposed amendment is an
attack on the freedom of the Catholic Church is that once the Seal of
Confession is broken, the Sacrament of Mercy—through which God forgives sins
through the ministry of the priest—becomes unviable. In other words, the Church
loses Her freedom. The Church will effectively become an instrument of the
State since She will be compelled to report on all activities of citizens that
the State deems necessary. The Government intrudes the conscience of an
individual citizens.
9. It
is far more likely that journalists and lawyers would hear admissions about
such crimes. Yet this bill does not propose doing away with the attorney-client
privilege or the protection of journalists’ sources. It only targets Catholic
Priests Catholics and hence the Government has biased attitudes towards its
citizen Catholics.
10.
Forcing priests to break the Seal of Confession places them in an excruciating
dilemma of having to choose between obeying God and His Church or a secularist
court of law! All priests who are faithful to their sublime vocation will
answer with Saint Peter: “We ought to obey God, rather than men”. (Acts 5:29).
The Confessors under Communism and Nazism suffered imprisonment, torture and
execution rather than fail in their duty to preserve the Seal of Confession. In
response to the said amendment, Archbishop Jose Rafael Quiros of San Jose, Costa
Rica’s capital, said, “The seal of confession must not be violated; what is
said in confession must not be revealed.”
11.
Those who have a history of attacking religious freedom. It is the
responsibility of the one sponsoring the bill to prove that this ‘breaking of
the seal of confession’ will have the effect they claim. Otherwise, its’ a
meaningless political gesture to pander to progressives who already hate the
Church. It is undoubtedly an attack on the Church. The child abuse is NOT the
concern of Leftist politicians. Their concern is to totally destroy
Christianity.
12. In
1809, Napoleon's men entered the Vatican, arrested Pope Pius VII and brought
him in chains to Grenoble, and eventually Fontainebleau. His imprisonment
lasted five years. The Holy Father vowed to God that, if he were restored to
the Roman See, he would institute a special feast in honour of Holy Mary.
Military reverses forced Napoleon to release the Pope, and on May
24th 1814, Pius VII returned in triumph to Rome. Therefore, we the Catholics
will be prepared to sacrifice our lives to defend our faith.
13.
Will the Costa Rica Government tell all its army men that anyone from defence
forces captured in another country, while tortured in that country, could give
out the army secrets in full? Is it right?
Is it possible?
14. Every Government enact laws against
terrorism, dacoit, theft, corruption and rapes/sexual abuses, but no Government
prevent or eliminate these crimes. Likewise, the child abuses also. But the
Catholic Church never compromise this child abuse crime. The Church never
teaches against morals or support or teach any form of crime or any form of
immoral activities. The Churchmen sacrificed their life for spreading the love,
charity and service, that is, commanded by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
the present law warrants the catholic priests to disclose the child abuse heard
during the sacrament of confession to the concerned authorities are cannot be
accepted by the Catholic Church on the following reasons:
(i)
“How
can you expect a penitent to reveal a crime confessed to a priest during
confession. These are all based upon everyone’s belief bound on their
conscience. There should be no coercion or compulsion but it should be purely
voluntary. In my early days in 1970 there was a sermon given by one traditional
priest told a story that “a penitent Mr. John is confessing his sin before a
priest Fr. Mathew and in the opposite side another priest Fr. Mark also hearing
confession. While the penitent Mr. John was confessing, a cockroach, a frog and
a scorpion were coming out of his mouth. But one snake tried to come out of his
mouth, but the snake could never come out of the penitent’s mouth and finally
the penitent went away; the confession was over. The opposite side priest Fr. Mark
was watching this scene of confession of Mr. John. This story is explaining
that the cockroach, frog and scorpion are the venial sin committed by Mr. John.
But the snake represents a mortal sin. The sinner Mr. John was not willing to
confess the mortal sin to the confessor Priest Fr. Mathew. Therefore, nobody
will expect sinners to reveal a crime confessed before the priest in the
confession. The sinner may confess or let it out, but nobody knows but God and
the sinner only knows the truth. Therefore, the priest being required to report
the crime to the police is unwanted, but it is a religious persecution by the
Costa Rica government itself.
(ii)
Suppose
a boy confessed before a priest that he was molested by a man. Very next day
when the same man confessed before the priest, but the man did not speak about
the said molestation incident. After one week the boy’s father complained to
the police. The police called the priest and asked about the man’s confession
and the priest told the police that the man said nothing about the molestation.
Here we believe the boy or the man or the priest. Further, if the priest was
punished, then the judicial system is jeopardised. Because, “Let a hundred
guilty be acquitted but one innocent should not be convicted”, this is the
basic ethics of the Judicial system.
(iii)
If the seal of the confessional be removed,
would any one child would come to the priest in confessional and confess the
sexual abuse? If priests were to be forced to disclose the facts of such
confessions to law enforcement, it would create even more cases of such abuse,
because perpetrators would not confess these sins to a priest, and they would
only subconsciously bury their guilt and they would no longer seek neither
forgiveness nor a change their own behaviour. Leaving confessions
confidential has benefits for both offender and victim. It was given to the
priests to be a tribunal in which the sinners feel free to reveal their most
profound sins for the sake of spiritual healing. Therefore, the present law is
baseless, and it is interfering with penitent’s belief and conscience.
(iv)
The seal
of confession also known as the “sacrament of penance” or “sacrament of
reconciliation”, is fundamental to the Catholic faith. Sinners can ask for
forgiveness for their sins, allowing them to “reconcile with God and the
Church”. It is usually done in the confessional box in churches. The seal
applies only to communications made during sacramental confession to a priest.
Canon Law 1388 (i) forbids priests from disclosing a confession. As per this
Canon, a priest who violates the seal of confession, faces ex-communication, which
is the most severe form of punishment in the Catholic faith. Saint John
Nepomuceno (1340–1393), vicar general to the Archbishop of Prague, was a martyr
for the Seal of Confession when he refused to reveal to the cruel and unjust
King Wenceslaus IV the contents of the Queen’s confession. Therefore, breaking
the seal of confession is meaningless and it is purportedly an attack on the
Catholic Church.
(v)
As a
matter of fact, the
amendment of Article 206 in the bill of Costa Rica’s criminal code would
require clergy and others who have contact with young people to report
allegations of sexual abuse of minors, and be requiring all clergy in the Costa Rica to report all instances of
child abuse or neglect made known to them to the appropriate authorities are
interfering with the Scripture and Church Doctrine, in respect of the Catholic
faith of the sacrament of confession. It affects the priest’s vow of keeping
secrecy given to the Church. Ultimately the priest would suffer eternal
damnation according to the word of God, “if he will not hear the church, let
him be to thee as the heathen and publican”. (Mt.18:17). Christianity has been
spread all over the world by millions of Missionaries who have sacrificed their
lives by fire and were tortured and brutally murdered by lions and other wild
animals. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord God and His teachings are
binding us for ever. Therefore, we the Christians are bound to defend the
Catholic Church from any kind of interference to save the teachings of Our Lord
Jesus Christ at any cost.
(vi)
Lastly,
if a man has written a WILL and after his death, no court or authority has the
right to change or alter anything in the Will. It is likewise, the sacrament of
confession. It has commanded by Our Lord Jesus Christ and it is written in the
Scripture. It is the WILL of God. So, the Catholic Church, or the Pope or any
other Ecumenical Body does not have the right to change or alter or modify
anything against the Scripture. Therefore, it is impossible to go against the
WILL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
In these circumstances it is prayed that
the proposed amendment in Article
206 of Costa Rica’s criminal code which requires the clergy and others who have
contact with young people to report allegations of sexual abuse of minors, requiring all clergy in the Costa Rica to
report all instances of child abuse or neglect made known to them to the
appropriate authorities is contrary to the Scriptures, Tradition, WILL of GOD
and the belief and conscience of the Catholics. Hence the present Law “to break
the seal of confession cannot be accepted by the Catholic Church, because the
Catholic Church doesn’t have power to deal with it”. Therefore, Your Excellency
may be pleased to interfere with the above said law and it may be recalled and
thus render justice.
Yours sincerely,
G. Alex Benziger
Copy to:
1. HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL PIETRO
PAROLIN
SECRETARY OF STATE
Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano,
Citta del Vaticano 00120
ROMA, ITALY.
2. HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL FERNANDO FILONI,
Prefect
of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples
Palazzo
di Propaganda Fide
187
,
Piazza di Spagna,48
ROMA,
ITALY.
3. HIS GRACE JOSÉ RAFAEL QUIRÓS,
Arzobispado,
Avenida Cuarta entre Calle Central y calle
Primera,
Apartado 497,
1000 San José,
COSTA RICA
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