Can the priest tell the police about a crime to be committed?

Hi Rosahito, The answer is NO. A sacremental seal is inviolable. To quote from the Canon Law 983.1..."It is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason." A priest, therefore, cannot break the seal to save his own life, to protect his good name, to refute a false accusation, to save the life of another, to aid the course of justice (like reporting a crime), etc. A Decree from the Holy Office dated November 18, 1682 mandated that confessors are forbidden, even when there would be no revelation direct or indirect, to make use of any knowledge obtained in the confession that would "displease" the penitent or reveal his identity. i hope this will help.

It is a very good question. I think we will need a priest to answer it for us. Is there any priest in mylot? . I think the best way for the priest is trying to talk to the kidnapper and ask him not to do whatever he's planning to do. If the kidnapper is going to church and making a confession before committing any crime, then the priest will have a chance to talk him down.

I guess you got this from a TV series shown here in the Philippines. That is a very good question to pose and I have read similar post like this in the Philippines group. I think we should consider the fact that a priest is bound to keep all information that is passed on to him by the confessor. The thing is there seems to be a technical side on this things. The confessor only leaked the information to the priest. It was not the confessor who actually committed the crime but other person so technically the priest received only an information and not a confession of the perpatrator. In the seal of confession the priest is bound to conceal information of the sins of the confessor. Since the confessor did not do the crime it is technically not her sin therefore cannot be bound by the seal of confession. I am not sure of this but I was just thinking outside the box. I read somewhere about this technicality but I find it rather logical.

Umm....if you really want to keep a secret....don't tell a soul including a priest. Seriously. Priests are supposed to be anonymous and confession is supposed to be all safe and supposedly the priest does not even know who you are. Well don't believe that. When I was a kid....I didn't talk. I went into the confessional under the guise that the priest did not know who I was. I did my silent confession and left and did the hail marys and all. This went on for weeks when one day the priest came out from the confessional and right in front of me told my dad that I never spoke a word in confession. Obviously the priest can see thru that booth and he does know who you are and confidientiality is not a big deal with them. Then you have to look at the scandals and to be honest....why would anyone trust a person just because they are a "priest"? I don't see them as a very trustworthy ethical group of people.