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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Harry" data-source="post: 1251122" data-attributes="member: 5468">This has historically been argued in much the same context.  The case that I am most familiar with was in England, during the reign of Elizabeth & James VI.  Catholic priests were forbidden to enter, on pain of death, but the priests would sneak in to England to tend to the English Catholics.  If a priest was arrested on the road and asked point blank, that is one thing, but what if the priest is found hiding in someone's home - and that someone will also be killed, or at the very least dispossed, if the priest is found.  The concept of "equivocation" was created to allow priests to dissemble (as in your example).  I.e., "Have you ever been over the sea?", with the clear meaning of "have you been to Europe" could be answered "no" if the question didn't specify WHICH sea, as long as the person had not been over ALL seas.  This was a great source of debate in the Jesuit order, with the head of the Jesuits in England (Fr. Henry Garnet) deciding that equivocation was not proper.</blockquote>