seal of secrecy

Under Catholic doctrine, any confession to a priest is bound by the sacramental seal of secrecy and thus could not be told to the restaurant owners, or anyone else.

In one of his first decisions on Sunday, Lula instructed his Cabinet to review Bolsonaro’s decision to place some of his administration’s documents under a 100-year seal of secrecy.

The information was made public after the judge removed the seal of secrecy from the case concerning the hacking of the cellphones of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Spain’s ministers of defense and interior in May and June 2021.

It said the bishops’ body should also request clarity on whether information received in the confessional that a child has been sexually abused is covered by the seal of secrecy and whether absolution of a perpetrator should be withdrawn until the perpetrator confesses to police.

The central argument in the defense’s motion hinges on the notion that the seal of secrecy surrounding the Force-Bridges grand jury investigation prevented a fair shot at a defense.