AP writes about big, scary "secret Vatican confession tribunal"

The AP decided to celebrate Halloween in January I guess with a story entitled "Vatican secret confession tribunal opens up". It begins:

"One of the Vatican's most secrecy shrouded tribunals, which handles confessions of sins so grave only the pope can grant absolution, is giving the faithful a peek into its workings for the first time in its 830-year history."

Shock! Horror!

"Confessions of even the most heinous of crimes and sins — such as genocide or mass murder — are handled at the local level by priests and their bishops and are not heard by the tribunal.

Its work involves those sins that are reserved for the pope — considered so serious that a local priest or bishop is not qualified to grant absolution, said Cardinal James Francis Stafford, an American who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary."

Eeek! Gasp!

"Taking up nearly an entire city block, it is just steps away from one of Rome's most profane piazzas — Campo dei Fiori, filled with bars catering to tourists and college-age Americans studying abroad."

Oh the humanity!

... so okay, the Vatican has a tribunal that deals with absolving very grave sins. It's called the Apostolic Penitentiary, but don't let the name fool you: sins are kept here (for a time), not sinners. And yes, because many of the crimes in question involve the sacrament of confession, it's not surprising that the subject matter is often kept, well, secret.

Oh yeah, and Italians don't go to confession much. That's a problem too, but it has nothing to do with the Apostolic Penitentiary. And it's pretty clear to me that the AP reporter (with visions of Dan Brown running through his head, no doubt) was just looking for material to fill-out his spook piece on the big, bad Vatican A.P., and chose the topic of promoting the sacrament of confession.

The ironic thing, of course, is that the Apostolic Penitentiary is actually a tribunal of mercy (not of punishment), that dispenses forgiveness from God for these horrible crimes according to the laws of the Church. The Apostolic Penitentiary is one of the few tribunals that keeps running even when the Pope is dead and a new one has not yet been elected - because the Church continues to dispense to mankind the means of salvation even when she is without a visible head.