Article 23 law will not ‘alter the confidential nature of confessions’, Catholic diocese of Hong Kong says
- Catholic diocese addresses concerns that religious figures may breach law by failing to report acts or thoughts endangering national security
- Security chief Chris Tang calls on Legco to waive notices required to allow second reading of domestic national security bill to resume ‘as soon as possible’
Hong Kong’s Catholic diocese on Friday underlined that the new domestic national security bill would not “alter the confidential nature of confessions” as lawmakers unanimously agreed to waive notices so the government could fast track the legislation for a final vetting in the legislature.
The Legislative Council’s House Committee approved the streamlined arrangements for the Safeguarding National Security Bill on Friday after Chris Tang Ping-keung, the Secretary for Security, made the request so the bill’s second reading could resume “as soon as possible”.
Lawmakers will also be given a deadline of noon on Saturday to move any amendments to the bill after the house committee accepted a proposal by legislator Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, who is also a member of the government’s key decision-making body the Executive Council.
Lam told the Post after the meeting that “in theory” a full meeting could be called right after the deadline to resume the second reading and start the third reading – a final step in the legislative process that could put the security bill on the statute books.
The city’s Catholic diocese said on Friday it recognised that residents had an obligation to ensure national security.
“The legislation of Article 23 will not alter the confidential nature of confession (sacrament of reconciliation) of the church,” it said.
The church added it had offered its views over the bill but did not reveal further details.
Lawmaker Reverend Peter Koon Ho-ming brought up the confidentiality of religious confessions during a subcommittee meeting to discuss the bill and asked whether church figures would be charged if they did not report acts or thoughts that might endanger national security.
Unpacking extra powers Article 23 security bill will give Hong Kong leader
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said at the time that no one would be considered as having committed a crime by not reporting others who had done so, but it would be difficult to exempt religious leaders and social workers from the bill just for having private conversations at work.
“Anyone, be it a religious leader or not, who hears about someone planning something harmful, even if you don’t report it, as a civic duty you should convince them otherwise or sometimes determine whether to notify relevant authorities to stop an unfortunate event from happening,” Lam said.
How Hong Kong plans to amend laws, create new offences for Article 23 legislation
Under the bill, a Chinese citizen knowing another person has committed or is about to commit treason must disclose the information to police “as soon as reasonably practicable”, or risk being held liable and face up to 14 years of imprisonment.
Lawmakers completed the clause-by-clause scrutiny of the bill, mandated under Article 23 of the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and its amendments in less than seven days in a series of marathon meetings after it was gazetted last Friday.
The domestic counterpart of the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 was designed to outlaw five new types of offences – treason; insurrection, incitement to mutiny and disaffection, and acts with seditious intention; sabotage; foreign interference; and theft of state secrets and espionage.
Additional reporting by Willa Wu
