Confession and the Constitution

Confession and the Constitution

This month, Washington State enacted a law requiring clergy to report suspected child abuse or neglect, even when the information is obtained through a confidential spiritual communication, like Confession in the Catholic Church. The new law seems clearly unconstitutional under current doctrine; that's the easy part. But the deeper issues are more interesting and more difficult, and they have been with us for a very long time.  The new law depar…

The Catholic Church will have to declassify the information it has on cases of paedophilia in Colombia. The Constitutional Court has given the right this Monday to two journalists who filed dozens of tutelage against various dioceses and religious communities throughout the country so that the archives on which the allegations of child sexual abuse are based were handed over to them in their entirety. According to them, the Church only gave them…

Catholic priests who learn of child sex abuse during confession must report penitents to police, Britain's women's minister has said, a stance that could put the government on a collision course with the church.

Clergy Reporting Law Sparks Clash Among Religious Groups

By Emma Maple | FāVS News The Department of Justice is currently investigating Washington’s new law mandating clergy report knowledge of child sex abuse, claiming it is a violation of the First Amendment and focusing on its impact on Catholic priests. The Clergy Accountability Coalition, a multifaith group of supporters that lobbied for the law, has stated these claims are inaccurate.  “It’s pretty absurd to say that the whole goal of this was t…

They order the Catholic Church to hand over information about clergymen accused of sexual abuse.Agencia Period...Lun, 26/05/2025 - 18:51 The Court protected the rights of two journalists and prioritized the public interest over ecclesiastical reservations in cases of child abuse. Tags { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "DataFeed", "name": "", "description": "", "creator": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Agencia Periodismo Investiga…