Comment: The pontifical secret applies to “extrajudicial denunciations”, an allegation of child sexual abuse made to the superior of the accused. It does not apply where a curate is told about the abuse of his parish priest, but vice versa it does. It does not apply where a bishop walks into a priest’s bedroom and finds him abusing a child. His knowledge come from his own eyes and not from any extrajudicial denunciation or any inquiry that he might set up. But these are unusual circumstances. Most of the bishops’ knowledge comes from someone complaining to him about the abuse by a priest under his control, and those allegations are covered by the secret. Those who accidentally come across this information are also bound by the secret. Francis knows about the secret because the Argentinian protocol which was two years in the drafting, was signed off by his fellow bishops one month after he became pope. Art 17 states “as a first warning” that these cases are subject to the pontifical secret.