I was surprised that Fr Dominic Allain (“Confessional rules should not be altered for abuse”, News from Britain and Ireland, 1 November) should have said that absolution of a penitent for child sexual abuse cannot be “the one sin that requires a person to disclose it to the police”.Leaving aside that it would be good were criminals to give themselves up to the police for any sort of crime they have committed, surely it is not possible to be certain a penitent is genuinely repentant of a crime unless they are prepared to follow through the legal consequences; reporting to the police being an obvious starter in that.And in the case of a devious and addictive sin like child sexual abuse, I really would have thought that proof of penitence must also require the person