A proposed law in Arizona could see priests facing felony charges if they fail to break the seal of confession after learning of child abuse during the sacrament. The measure, HB 2039, was introduced ...

Washington State permanently withdrew the law requiring clergy to violate the sacred “seal of confession” by reporting sexual abuse that was disclosed in a confession booth, according to a court order ...

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand. A newly enacted law forcing priests to reveal the details of their members’ private confessions under penalty of fine or imprisonment ...

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 ...

Under the legislation, priests and pastors would be forced to report child abuse if they have a reasonable suspicion “to ...

The state of Washington reached an agreement with Catholic officials this week not to require priests to report information that they learn in sacramental confession about suspected child abuse or ...

Arizona could pass a law that requires priests have to report abuse they hear about during confession.

A new bill before the Arizona House of Representatives could force priests and pastors to break their seal of confession. The ...

Roman 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 ...

While clergy are often mandatory reporters outside of the confessional, long-standing legal precedent in the U.S. recognizes the religious freedom of confessors and penitents to be exempt from those ...

In “The Guilty Vicarage,” an essay on detective fiction, W.H. Auden argues that the most successful detective novels take place in an apparent Eden (the cozy village, the ivied college, the country ...