Callum Jones
A Catholic priest-turned-YouTuber has detailed what would happen if someone were to admit to murder in confession.
Father David Michael Moses has over 400,000 subscribers on YouTube, and documents how he went from college life to 'priesthood'.
The 31-year-old started college at the age of 14, before graduating with a bachelor's degree when he was 18 years old. And while he was accepted into several law schools, he entered seminary for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and completed his studies at the age of 25 in 2019.
These days, Moses is the parochial vicar at Christ the Good Shepherd in Spring, Texas, while he speaks about his religious thoughts on his popular YouTube channel.
Advert
In a video uploaded to his channel back in February, Moses revealed what happens if someone were to confess murder to him.
To put it simply, the seal of confession is absolute, meaning a priest cannot reveal anything shared in confession. Though, a priest can speak out under certain circumstances when information is not shared in confession.
Moses explained: "The seal of confession means that if you come to confession, the priest can't repeat what you said. The priest can't go around saying, 'Hey, did you hear so and so did this?'
"If you come to meet me in my office, not confession, we're just talking, then that's what we call privileged information. I'm not bound to strict secrecy, but if I went around saying, 'Sally told me that her husband has a real gambling problem', that would be inappropriate."
However, Moses gave the example that if someone confessed to 'poisoning all the water in the city' during one of these 'chats', he could inform the relevant authorities, as the information he had been told would harm other people.
But if that or any other dreadful crime was done under the seal of confession, it cannot be told as the 'sins are sealed in secrecy', according to Moses.
He continued: "No matter what sins are said in confession, the priest cannot say or do anything about it. He can't even treat the person different afterwards.
"If a priest directly breaks the seal, then that priest is automatically excommunicated, or kicked out of the Church."
While priests cannot tell the police about the murder, they can offer advice and hopefully guide the individual into doing the right thing and confessing.
But to put it simply, what can priests do if someone admits to murder in confession? Well, nothing.