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About confession to priests
Executive summary
Washington’s 2025 effort to make clergy mandatory reporters sparked a national legal fight over whether priests can be forced to disclose child abuse revealed in confession; federal judges and settlement language ultimately preserved a clergy-penitent exception in practice (see Washington legislation and later court actions) [1][2]. The Catholic Church treats the seal of confession as absolutely inviolable and threatens canonical penalties for disclosure, while supporters of the law argued public-safety goals justified tighter reporting duties [3][4].
1. What changed — and what didn’t: the Washington flashpoint
In spring 2025 Washington’s legislature passed SB 5375 to add “members of the clergy” to the state’s list of mandatory reporters of child abuse; the text as enacted initially did not preserve an explicit priest-penitent exception and raised the prospect that priests would have to report abuses revealed during sacramental confession [4][5]. That produced immediate lawsuits and federal scrutiny; by October the parties reached court agreements and injunction language that left clergy outside the obligation to report what they learn during confession, effectively preserving a clergy-penitent privilege for sacramental communications in practice [1][6][2].
2. Church doctrine vs. state law: irreconcilable starting points
Catholic canon law declares the sacramental seal “inviolable” and forbids a confessor from revealing penitential disclosures “for any reason,” with canonical penalties—including automatic excommunication—looming for a priest who complies with civil compulsion to break that seal [7][8]. Civil authorities and some lawmakers, by contrast, framed mandatory reporting as an essential child-protection tool applicable to many professionals; proponents argued the law applied broadly to many faith leaders and aimed to close gaps exposed by abuse scandals [4][9].
3. Legal chess: courts, injunctions and constitutional claims
Litigation hinged not on ordinary statutory interpretation alone but on constitutional protections for religious exercise. Plaintiffs (the dioceses and bishops) argued SB 5375 unconstitutionally compelled religious practice and penalized clergy for following sacramental obligations; federal judges issued injunctions that prevented enforcement of the law as to sacramental confession and left open the possibility that a revised statute might be framed to withstand constitutional review [2][6]. Reporting indicates the parties negotiated settlements and injunctions rather than a final Supreme Court test of the First Amendment question in this instance [2].
4. Practical consequences for priests, penitents and prosecutions
Even in states that have adopted narrow or no confessional exceptions, reporting shows very few, if any, prosecutions of priests for failing to report what they heard in confession; reporting notes it’s “not clear” that priests have been criminally penalized in those jurisdictions [4][9]. Church leaders warned that a law requiring disclosure would push confessors away from sacramental confession, change pastoral practice (for instance, limiting face-to-face confession), and risk canonical punishments for priests who comply with civil compulsion [10][11].
5. Competing public-interest frames
Advocates of the law framed it as a public-safety measure targeting secrecy that enabled abuse to persist; critics framed the law as an unconstitutional, religion-targeting intrusion that would chill religious practice and undermine sacramental privacy [4][5]. The Department of Justice at one point opened a civil-rights inquiry into the Washington bill, reflecting the politically fraught nature of allegations that a law singled out Catholic practice [12][9].
6. What reporting does — and does not — tell us
Available sources document the legislative text, the church’s canonical stance, injunctions and settlements preserving a practical priest-penitent exception, and commentary from both sides [1][3][2]. Available sources do not mention a definitive nationwide legal standard resolving whether a state may ever compel confession disclosures without running afoul of the First Amendment; instead, cases and statutes vary by state and often end up in litigation [9][7].
7. Where this could go next
Observers expect further legislative attempts in other states and possible recalibrations of statutes in light of the constitutional arguments that carried the day in Washington; advocates on both sides are preparing for more courtroom battles or new statutory drafting that tries to thread constitutional needles [5][2]. The debate will continue to revolve around two irreconcilable imperatives: absolute sacramental secrecy as a matter of religious doctrine, and secular duties to report and prevent abuse as a matter of public safety [7][4].