CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

Decree
regarding the excommunication
of those who divulge confessions*

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in order to protect the sanctity of the sacrament of Penance and in order to defend the rights of ministers and Christian faithful within the same sacrament regarding the sacramental seal and secrecy connected to Confession, in virtue of the special faculty conferred by the Supreme Apostolic Authority of the Church (can. 30), has determined that:

Without prejudice to the prescription of can. 1388, anyone who by means of any technical device makes a recording of what the priest or the penitent says in a Sacramental Confession (either real or simulated) by oneself or by another person, or who divulges it through the means of social communication, incurs excommunication latae sententiae.

This Decree enters into force from the day of its promulgation.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Prefect

Alberto Bovone
Titular Archbishop of Caesarea in Numidia
Secretary

* Decretum de sacramenti Paenitentiae dignitate tuenda, 23 September 1988 (AAS 80 [1988] 1367).