(ZENIT News / Tacoma, Washington, 10.13.2025).- The State of Washington has abandoned its controversial effort to compel Catholic and Orthodox priests to break the Seal of Confession—one of the most inviolable principles in Christianity. The decision, announced on October 10, brings to an end a tense legal standoff that pitted government authority against centuries of religious tradition.
Senate Bill 5375, championed by Democratic Senator Noel Frame and signed by Governor Bob Ferguson in May, sought to make clergy mandatory reporters of child abuse, even when the information was obtained in the sacrament of confession. While the law preserved confidentiality for attorneys, counselors, and addiction sponsors, it stripped priests of the same protection. Violating the statute could have meant jail time, heavy fines, and civil liability for any priest who honored his sacred vow of silence.
The backlash was immediate and intense. Washington’s Catholic bishops, joined by Orthodox churches, launched parallel lawsuits in both of the state’s federal districts, arguing that the measure struck at the very heart of religious freedom. Their position was straightforward: confession is not a conversation—it is a sacrament, a spiritual encounter between penitent and God. No state, they argued, has the right to force a priest to betray that sacred trust.
Federal judges agreed. In July, both courts blocked the law before it could take effect, and by October the state conceded. Through settlements with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Washington formally agreed never to enforce the law. The move ends months of mounting legal pressure—and a rare intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice, which had signaled concern that the state was violating federal religious protections.
John Bursch, ADF’s senior counsel, described the resolution as a “restoration of constitutional sanity.” He noted that Washington had treated priests more harshly than other professionals who handle confidential information. “That’s a textbook case of religious discrimination,” he said. “The First Amendment doesn’t allow the government to target faith just because it’s faith.”
Mark Rienzi, president of Becket, echoed the sentiment, calling the settlement “a victory for religious freedom and common sense.” He added, “No priest should ever have to choose between breaking his vows or going to jail.”
For the state’s Catholic leadership, the case was never about resisting accountability but about preserving the spiritual core of their ministry. Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, who publicly vowed to defy the law if necessary, expressed relief that the government had “stepped back from a dangerous precedent.” Jean Hill, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, emphasized that protecting children and safeguarding the confessional are not incompatible goals. “Preventing abuse and maintaining the sacred seal are not mutually exclusive—we can and must do both,” she said.
Orthodox leaders, who filed their own lawsuit under the title Orthodox Church in America v. Ferguson, voiced similar relief. Their legal team argued that forcing priests to reveal confessions would not only violate religious law but also drive believers away from repentance and reconciliation. The First Amendment, they maintained, exists precisely to prevent such governmental overreach.
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