Pontifical Secret

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In Catholicism, the pontifical secret is a code of confidentiality applied to some confidential knowledge within the Church. Breaching the pontifical secret carries penalties including the threat of excommunication. In 1974 the Vatican issued Secreta continere, which outlines ten areas in which pontifical secrecy can apply. They range from appointments of bishops to Vatican investigations of theologians and other church personnel to the proceedings at papal conclaves [1].

Example: The Vatican document, Crimen sollicitationis authored by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, then head of the now defunct Supreme and Holy Congregation of the Holy Office, was issued in 1962, covered by the Pontifical secret, with instructions on the first page of the 39-page document directing that it be stored uncatalogued in the secret archives of each diocese. The secret document an instruction manual for all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops and other diocesan ordinaries, dealt with the reform of an abuse, establishing a canonical procedure for cases in which priests were accused of abusing the sacrament of penance to sexually proposition penitents, thus its title "Crime of Solicitation."

Example: On May 18, 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at that time prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) sent a letter to all Catholic Bishops declaring that the Church's investigations into claims of child sex abuse claims were subject to the pontifical secret and not to be reported to law enforcement. Bishops were instructed to keep secret the allegations of child sex abuse for ten years after the child turned 18. It ordered that "preliminary investigations" into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger's office, which has the option of referring them back to private tribunals in which the 'functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests'. This was claimed to be an obstruction of justice. In April 2005 the cardinal was made pope as Benedict XVI.

When plaintiffs in Houston, Texas began a suit arguing obstruction of justice, in April 2005, the Archbishop of Houston, Joseph Fiorenza, issued a statement elucidating pontifical secret: These matters are confidential only to the procedures within the Church, but do not preclude in any way for these matters to be brought to civil authorities for proper legal adjudication. The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People of June, 2002, approved by the Vatican, requires that credible allegations of sexual abuse of children be reported to legal authorities. [2]

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