A federal judge blocked Washington law requiring clergy to report child abuse, citing First Amendment concerns raised by ...

Clergy members will not have to choose between their vocation and jail time, for now.

The controversial law, now the center of a lawsuit, requires priests to report abuse even when disclosed during confession.

New Washington State law asks clergy to report child abuse heard in confession. Opponents say it's violating the Constitution.

Washington state's legislation requiring priests to report child abuse disclosed in confession faces opposition from bishops ...

The law, which is set to take effect on July 2, has already come under scrutiny from leaders within the Catholic Church, who say it directly undermines their ability to keep confessions ...

That legal basis for that seal goes back at least as far as the tenth century, when individual confession became more common. The Catholic Church teaches that the seal is not simply human law but ...

This is not new church law. Similar church legislation can be found at least by the 12th century and continues throughout the following years to this present day. However, this wasn't always the case.

The Church’s teaching on confession is briefly presented in paragraph 1422 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which collects the teachings in Vatican II’s [constitution] Lumen gentium ...

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a new law that demands priests report child abuse revealed during private confession.. One American Archbishop and other Catholic Church ...

It is hard to see Washington’s law as anything but a direct attack on the Catholic Church and an attempt to impose the state on the church. But for the priests of Washington, prison or a fine is ...

The law, which is set to take effect on July 2, has already come under scrutiny from leaders within the Catholic Church, who say it directly undermines their ability to keep confessions ...