Disclosing a known crime: I heard that even if you confess a heinous crime such as murder, that the priest can not tell the state. Isn't it more important that they share w/ them about bad crimes instead of keeping them a secret? Priest telling State: If a priest or pastor DOES learn of a crime, should he pretend he's not going to say anything & say something or tell the person up front that's he's going to tell the authorities if they don't?