It means the law works.
If they truly believe in their faith, then they will serve their sentences faithfully, as a show if their devotion to their god.
Protecting child abuse should have a cost regardless of the motivation.
this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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Pedophiles protecting pedophiles? Who would have thunk!
So the new pope is off to a GREAT start, I guess 🤷
requiring the reporting of child abuse confessions to authorities
So they aren't blatantly evil at least. Confessions remaining private is the foundation of how they work. Either way, the church loses on this one.
requiring the reporting of child abuse confessions to authorities
The actual law isn't about confessions nor is it solely about CSAM. What Washington State has done is amend their mandatory report law by removing the exemption for Clergy.
"...has reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect, he or she shall report such incident, or cause a report to be made, to the proper law enforcement agency or to the department as provided in RCW 26.44.040."
So yes, if a Priest (Catholic or not) hears a confession about CSAM they will be required to report. However if they hear about child *neglect *in a confession they have to report that as well.
Likely more meaningfully they ALSO now have to report those same things even if it isn't during a Confession. For example if they witness a parent smacking their kid around in the parking lot.
It's a necessary and correct change but it reaches a lot further than just the confessional.
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Any priest who complies with a new law requiring the reporting of child abuse confessions to authorities will be excommunicated.
Oh, are we going to play that game?
Why does the Catholic Church have to be so fucking evil?
It was founded on lies and for political reasons. Remember: Jesus was a Jew, a God fearing man in the vein of Abraham and Solomon, he never meant to create a new religion ("I didn't come to break the law, I came to enforce it") but Rome had to ride the Jesus wave or get trampled underneath it so they added their semi OG anthropomorphic polytheism to make it palatable to the European masses and bam, Catholicism was born.
Wow literally threatening people who report child abuse…this is why people have no faith in religion
Well, glad I'm not catholic. Fuck these assholes
Holy Shit!
The holiest of shits
Double win! Child abuse gets reported, and the catholic church gets less influence.
Priests for jail! So many of them should be there for their own pedophile anyway.
Just make a new tax called the "Molestation Enablers Tax" that all institutions will pay if they opt out of reporting.
Kinda torn on this one. Confessional is kind of like a safe space — like talking to your therapist or a lawyer. It doesn’t help that the Catholic Church is probably the biggest cabal of pedophiles on earth. But, if they weren’t there would be an argument.
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