The Seal of the Confessional (also Seal of Confession or Sacramental Seal) is a
Christian doctrine forbidding a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
from disclosing any information learned from a penitent during
Confession
A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...
. This doctrine is recognized by several
Christian denominations:
*
Seal of the Confessional (Anglicanism)
*
Seal of confession in the Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, the Seal of Confession (also known as the Seal of the Confessional or the Sacramental Seal) is the absolute duty of priests or anyone who happens to hear a confession not to disclose anything that they learn from penitent ...
*
Seal of the Confessional (Lutheran Church)
See also
*
Priest–penitent privilege
The clergy–penitent privilege, clergy privilege, confessional privilege, priest–penitent privilege, pastor–penitent privilege, clergyman–communicant privilege, or ecclesiastical privilege, is a rule of evidence that forbids judicial inqui ...
– legal recognition of privacy of confession
{{SIA