An earlier version of this article noted that Fr Gerard Doyle had been asked by his superior to inform Fr Samuel Penney that he was about to be arrested. We would like to make it clear that Fr Doyle had no role in formulating the request, did not comply with the order and had no connection to Fr Penney.
Priests would rather die than violate the sacramental Seal of Confession, Cardinal Vincent Nichols (pictured) suggested last week.
“I would defend the Seal of Confession absolutely,” he told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA). “The history of the Catholic Church has a number of people who’ve been put to death in defence of the Seal of Confession. It might come to that.”
