The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Washington over its recent law mandating that priests must violate the seal of confession if child abuse is learned about during the ...

In recent years, some Catholics have been concerned by pushes from governments in locations such as Louisiana and Australia who challenge the secrecy of the sacrament of confession, asking that ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. – The State of Washington reached an agreement with Catholic priests and the Department of Justice to allow Catholic priests to maintain secrecy while performing the Sacrament of ...

The state is agreeing to a settlement that keeps in place an injunction protecting priests who learn of child abuse only through the confessional. Washington state Catholic bishops won a reprieve from ...

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday signed a controversial state law that requires priests to report child abuse to authorities even if they learn of it during the sacrament of confession. The ...

When I was auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles some years ago, I spoke up at a meeting of the California hierarchy. We were considering a number of moves being made by the state legislature, including a ...

Catholic priests in Washington cannot be required to report child abuse or neglect they learn of in confession, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Court Chief Judge David G. Estudillo granted ...

Catholic clergy members in Washington may be forced to choose between excommunication or disobeying the government because of a recently signed law that requires them to break the seal of confession ...

Confession, the Catholic and Orthodox practice of listing one’s sins in the presence of a priest who then offers absolution and is sworn to secrecy under pain of eternal damnation, has long been a ...