The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Washington over a newly enacted law that requires Catholic priests to break the seal of Confession in order to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
The Trump administration argues that the law—known as Senate Bill 5375—violates the religious freedom of Catholics by compelling clergy to violate the sacred confidentiality of the sacrament.
Confession, also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is a core Catholic practice in which individuals confess their sins to a priest to receive absolution and reconcile with God.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon stated: “Laws that explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society. Senate Bill 5375 unconstitutionally forces Catholic priests in Washington to choose between their obligations to the Church and their penitents or face criminal consequences, while treating the priest-penitent privilege differently from other well-established privileges. The Justice Department will not sit idly by when states mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
As written, the law applies to all practicing Catholics, including priests administering the sacrament and penitents participating in it. Breaking the seal of Confession would not only violate priestly vows, but could also result in excommunication from the Catholic Church.
The law is scheduled to take effect in July. It grants confidentiality protections to other professions—such as doctors and nurses—by exempting them from mandatory reporting requirements in certain contexts, while providing no such protection for Catholic clergy.
Catholic bishops in Washington have already filed a federal lawsuit, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of religious liberty under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
In court filings, the bishops wrote: “Washington is targeting the Roman Catholic Church in a brazen act of religious discrimination. Without any basis in law or fact, Washington now puts Roman Catholic priests to an impossible choice: violate 2,000 years of Church teaching and incur automatic excommunication, or refuse to comply with state law and be subject to imprisonment, fines, and civil liability.”
They added: “The object of this law is clear: subject Roman Catholic clergy to the dictates of the state.”
The legal battle in the U.S. comes as similar concerns are raised in the United Kingdom, where Catholics have expressed alarm over provisions in the government’s new Crime and Policing Bill. The proposed legislation would require priests to report confessions involving abuse disclosures, with no religious exemption currently being considered.
A spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales told The Pillar earlier this year that the Church is reviewing the bill and “engaging with officials, ministers, and parliamentarians” about its implications.