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CNA Staff, Oct 10, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).
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.
а motion filed in federal district court on Oct. 10 affirmed that state and local governments would stop attempting to require priests to report child abuse learned during the sacrament of reconciliation.
The state attorney general’s office on Oct. 10 said in a press release that clergy would remain mandatory reporters under state law, but prosecutors would agree “not to enforce reporting requirements for information clergy learn solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.”
The agreement brings an end to a high-profile and controversial effort by Washington government leaders to violate one of the Catholic Church’s most sacred and inviolable directives, one that requires priests to maintain absolute secrecy over what they learn during confession or else face excommunication.
Washington’s revised mandatory reporting law, passed by the state Legislature earlier this year and подписанный губернатором Робертом Фергюсоном, добавил духовенство в список лиц, обязанных сообщать о случаях жестокого обращения в штате. Но он не включил исключение для информации, полученной на исповеди, явно исключив священников из категории «привилегированного общения», предоставляемой другим специалистам.
The state’s bishops successfully blocked the law in federal court in July, though the threat of the statute still loomed if the state government was successful at appeal.
In the July ruling, окружной судья Дэвид Эстудильо заявил, что «нет никаких сомнений» в том, что закон обременяет свободу вероисповедания.
«В ситуациях, когда [священники] выслушивают исповеди, связанные с жестоким обращением с детьми или пренебрежением их нуждами, [правило] ставит их перед выбором: либо соблюдать требования своей веры, либо нарушить закон», — написал судья.
The state’s reversal on Oct. 10 brought cheers from religious liberty advocates, including the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented state bishops in their suit against the state government.
“Washington was wise to walk away from this draconian law and allow Catholic clergy to continue ministering to the faithful,” Becket CEO and President Mark Rienzi said.
“This is a victory for religious freedom and for common sense. Priests should never be forced to make the impossible choice of betraying their sacred vows or going to jail.”
Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel John Bursch on Friday said the legal advocacy group was “pleased the state agreed to swiftly restore the constitutionally protected freedom of churches and priests.” The legal group had represented Orthodox churches and a priest in their own suit.
“Washington was targeting priests by compelling them to break the sacred confidentiality of confession while protecting other confidential communications, like those between attorneys and their clients. That’s rank religious discrimination,” Bursch said.
On X, the Washington State Catholic Conference сказал that Church leaders in the state “consistently supported the law’s broader goal of strengthening protections for minors.”
Church leaders “asked only for a narrow exemption to protect the sacrament of confession,” the conference said.
“In every other setting other than the confessional, the Church has long supported — and continues to support — mandatory reporting,” the conference added. “We’re grateful Washington ultimately recognized it can prevent abuse without forcing priests to violate their sacred vows.”
The legal fight had drawn the backing of a wide variety of supporters and backers, including the Trump administration, Bishop Robert Barron, и a global priests’ group, among numerous others.
Well ahead of the law’s passage, Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly had promised Catholics in the state that priests would face prison time rather than violate the seal of confession. “I want to assure you that your shepherds, bishop and priests, are committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” Daly told the faithful in April 2023.
The Washington bishops, meanwhile, noted on Oct. 10 that the Catholic Church has upheld the sanctity of confession “for centuries.”
“Priests have been imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for upholding the seal of confession,” the state Catholic conference said. “Penitents today need the same assurance that their participation in a holy sacrament will remain free from government interference.”