The archbishop of Sydney has said that Catholic priests will suffer martyrdom before they break the seal of confession.His comment comes during increasing debate about the political place of religious freedom when it comes to combatting sexual abuse and – through the seal of confession – shielding or revealing abusers.

In an Easter homily on the sacraments, archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher was clear that the seal of confession must never be broken, according to Aleteia.

He called the sacrament a 'beautiful Easter gift, stirring us to contrition and resolve to sin no more, enabling a life-long journey of conversion, reconciling us to God and the Church, and giving us "pardon and peace"'.

However, he cautioned, 'this precious sacrament, too, is threatened today both by neglect and attack.

'But priests will, we know, suffer punishment, even martyrdom, rather than break the seal of confession. For confession is a privileged encounter between penitent and God; here the Christian enters the silence and secrecy of the Tomb, to be re-Eastered; and no earthly authority may enter there.'

The seal of confession – the ecclesiastical rule that ensures the confidentiality of confessions to priests – has come under scrutiny in light of the church child sex abuse scandal and the failure to deal appropriately with abusers. It's been suggested that clerics should be compelled to break the seal if they receive a confession of sex abuse.

It comes as politicians in Australia seek to establish new laws combatting child abuse. Gladys Berejiklian, the premier of the state of New South Wales, in which Sydney resides, said that the question about the seal of confession couldn't be dealt with at a local level and wouldn't be in the remit of new state laws.

'We believe it is beyond the boundaries of any one state,' she said, adding that institutional regulations needed 'to be balanced with what people believe to be religious freedoms'.