State of Washington will not enforce law on seal of Confession and abuse
October 17, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: Following a court ruling, the State of Washington’s attorney general said he has agreed “not to enforce reporting requirements for information clergy learn solely through confession or its equivalent in other faiths.”
In May, the state enacted a law requiring priests to report information about child abuse, even if it is given in a sacramental confession. Under the agreement, clergy remain mandatory reporters of abuse, with the exception of abuse learned about in the confessional.
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