Parishioners at St Annes Catholic Church in tiny Harihari, in New Zealand’s South Island, have been told their confessions remain secret despite the fact that a squatter has been living in the roof for years, it was reported on Tuesday.
Police were trying to remove the man who was refusing to come down from his hiding place, the Newstalk ZB radio station reported.
It said he was believed to have been hiding over the sacristy, where priests hear confessions, for up to seven years.
Lyndsay Freer, of the Catholic Communications Office, said the church father believed the ceiling was too thick for anyone to hear what was said in the confessional.
Freer said the man was discovered when the priest saw a hand come out of a manhole in the roof, but he retreated when he realised other people were in the church.
It was not immediately clear how the man had escaped detection for so long. – Sapa-DPA