Catholic Church To Excommunicate Priests for Following New US State Law. Catholic Church has issued a warning to its clergy in Washington state: Any priest who complies with a new law requiring the reporting of child abuse confessions to authorities will be excommunicated.

The new law, which will take effect on July 27, eliminates the long-standing confidentiality of the confessional, forcing Catholic leaders and lawmakers into a highly charged standoff over religious liberty and child protection.

However, the Archdiocese of Seattle and several bishops argue that the law not only contravenes church doctrine but crosses constitutional lines, while supporters maintain it is a crucial step to protect minors from abuse.

The issue spotlights the enduring tension between religious freedom and the state's duty to protect children from abuse. By compelling clergy to breach the confessional seal, Washington joins a small group of states stripping traditional confidentiality protections.

The law has triggered a national conversation about the boundaries of church and state, setting a precedent that could have implications for religious practices and privileged communications nationwide. The outcome may influence how other states approach mandated reporting requirements for clergy, especially as constitutional and civil rights groups enter the debate.

Washington's new statute requires clergy to report suspected child abuse, explicitly denying exceptions for information revealed during confession.

"Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession—or they will be excommunicated from the Church," the Archdiocese of Seattle warned, according to Fox News.

The Catholic Church's canon law regards breaking the confessional seal as a grave offense: "A confessor who directly violates the seal of confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See."

The U.S. Department of Justice said it is investigating whether the law infringes on First Amendment religious protections.

Voting by the College of Cardinals to select the next pope is set to begin Wednesday, following the death of Pope Francis on April 21.

Francis' funeral took place at the Vatican on April 26, with dignitaries including U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prince William in attendance.

The Death of a Pope. On Monday, April 21, at 7:35 a.m. Pope Francis’s death was announced. The news, as always when a pope dies, shook many people. And, as expected, it immediately set off the formidable media apparatus in Italy and the whole world. This significant event saddened Roman Catholics, and also called forth statements of solidarity from voices in culture, politics, the church, and the entertainment industry.

Many believers identified with Francis’s style and message, and mourned him as a good pope who tried to shake up the Catholic Church and move in an Evangelical direction. To these, Pastor Andrei Cretu, president of the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist Christian Churches, issued a message of solidarity and condolences.

As Adventist Christians we believe that death is a sleep from which we will be awakened on the day of the resurrection, as Easter has just recently reminded us. The apostle Paul tells us that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26), and that we will ultimately inherit eternal life with Jesus. Of this eternal life, promised and awaited, longed for—and nowadays, sometimes vilified by skeptics—we can say very little. All our thoughts and even our brightest imaginings are strongly colored by the reality of death and dying. But the resurrection of Jesus constitutes the precedent we must look to as the harbinger of this infinite provision of divine grace.

Message of condolence on the death of Pope Francis 21 April 2025

The President of the Italian Union of Seventh-day Adventist

Christian Churches, Pastor Andrei Cretu, expresses condolences and

human closeness to Catholic believers and to the Italian Episcopal

Conference, for the death of the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis.

Catholic Church to excommunicate priests for following WA law requiring child abuse confessions to be reported

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