DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—A proposed law in Washington state would require priests to violate Catholic Church law by breaking the seal of confession.
The bill would amend the current state law that requires law enforcement, teachers, medical professionals, or child care providers to report cases of child abuse or neglect to include church clergy that hear about abuse during the sacrament of confession, according to the bill’s text. Priests that break the seal of confession are automatically excommunicated from the church, according to Canon law.
The bill was proposed by Democratic Washington state Sens. Noel Frame, Claire Wilson, Jessica Bateman, Manka Dhingra, T’wina Nobles, and Javier Valdez.
“Washington State has no right to force a priest to break the sacred rite of confession,” Tom McClusky, director of Government Affairs at CatholicVote, told the…
