L’évêque de Manchester en faveur d’une exemption religieuse à la loi sur la maltraitance des enfants
Un évêque de l’église d’Angleterre a profité de son siège « de droit » à la chambre des lords pour plaider en faveur d’exemptions religieuses au signalement obligatoire des abus sexuels sur les enfants. L’évêque de Manchester, David Walker a déclaré qu’il existait des « arguments plausibles » en faveur de l’exemption des abus sexuels sur enfants révélés lors de la confession.
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Source : Newsline, lettre électronique hebdomadaire de la National Secular Sociéty, La Raison N°703
►https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/04/lord-spiritual-argues-for-religious-exemption-to-child-abuse-law
Lord spiritual argues for religious exemption to child abuse law Posted: Wed, 23rd Apr 2025
Bishop of Manchester, who sits by right in the Lords, suggests abuse revealed during confession should be exempt from reporting law.
A Church of England bishop has used his reserved seat in the House of Lords to argue for religious exemptions to mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.
Speaking in a debate on Tuesday, the bishop of Manchester David Walker (pictured) said there was an “arguable case” for exempting child sexual abuse revealed during confession.
The bishop’s claim contradicts the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) that mandatory reporting should “not be subject” to religious exemptions, including abuse revealed during “sacramental confession”.
Walker said the tradition of “the seal of the confessional” had been "honoured for many centuries "and was “established in canon law in this land”.
“I know my Catholic colleagues will particularly be concerned around that”, he added.
Research has found that sexual abusers within Catholic clergy have used confession to disclose their abuse and absolve themselves of guilt, in the knowledge that their abuse would not be reported. This enabled the continuation of abuse.
Walker’s intervention comes as the Government seeks to introduce a mandatory reporting law through its Crime and Policing Bill.
The National Secular Society has long campaigned for mandatory reporting with no religious exemptions. It also works to end reserved seats for 26 Church of England bishops in the Lords.
In November, the erstwhile archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was forced to resign after a review found he “could and should” have done more in response to abuse perpetrated by John Smyth.
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►https://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2025/04/lord-spiritual-argues-for-religious-exemption-to-child-abuse-law
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