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 ...

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 ...

The Permanent Council of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has expressed shock over the proposition of a bill that ...

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly is urging Catholic voters in Washington state to oppose a proposed law that would order priests to violate the seal of confession in cases where child abuse is revealed ...

The state law, in Washington, applies to all religions but has outraged Catholics in particular. The Justice Department is investigating. By Ruth Graham Ruth Graham covers faith and religion. The ...

In Etienne v. Ferguson, the Archdiocese of Seattle and the dioceses of Spokane and Yakima argued that the new law violated ...

One supporter of the law, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called the court decision "a ...

A motion filed in federal district court Oct. 10 affirmed that state and local governments would stop attempting to require ...

In May, the state Legislature passed a bill requiring clergy to report child abuse, bringing Washington in line with most of the rest of the country after previous efforts to ...

Washington has abandoned its effort to force Catholic priests and other religious leaders to divulge information on child ...