If such a thing as a “political confessional” existed, where errant officeholders could go to seek forgiveness for colossally wrongheaded actions, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and a majority of his ...

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 ...

A federal court in Washington state has approved a settlement agreement between the state and its three Catholic dioceses that would not mandate clergy to report sex abuse revealed during confession.

Officials in Washington state have agreed to back off a controversial effort to force priests there to violate the seal of confession as part of a mandatory abuse reporting law. A motion filed in ...

Washington State is backing off its controversial push to force Catholic priests into violating the seal of confession in order to comply with a law requiring them to report suspected child abuse.

A new law in the U.S. state of Washington which requires “members of the clergy” to report cases of child abuse or neglect learned in the confessional to police is being looked at by the U.S. Justice ...

Washington state's government and its Catholic bishops reached an agreement Oct. 10 in a federal lawsuit over the state's mandatory reporter law they said could force priests to violate the seal of ...

This law requires Catholic priests to break the seal of the sacrament of Reconciliation. This rule in the Catholic Church mandates that priests, as well as anyone who overhears someone's confession, ...