The 1953 Alfred Hitchcock film “I Confess,” based on an earlier play, features a priest suspected of murder. He’s innocent, and has even heard the murderer’s confession – but cannot clear his own name ...

In October 2025, Washington state agreed to withdraw a controversial mandate compelling priests to report allegations of ...

In “The Guilty Vicarage,” an essay on detective fiction, W.H. Auden argues that the most successful detective novels take ...

A federal judge has halted a Washington state law that required Catholic priests to break the seal of confession. The law that was passed in May, and was slated to go into effect on July 27, mandated ...

Confession, the Catholic and Orthodox practice of listing one’s sins in the presence of a priest who then offers absolution and is sworn to secrecy under pain of eternal damnation, has long been a ...

This autumn, a Swiss Catholic church installed an AI Jesus in a confessional to interact with visitors. The installation was a two-month project in religion, technology and art titled "Deus in Machina ...

Two state legislatures are considering ending any legal protections for a priest who learns about sexual abuse in the confessional. In response, Catholic leaders warned that the laws are ...

According to the senator who plans to introduce the legislation, the proposal ‘tries to make clear there [will be] no confidentiality’ exception, regardless of the context in which the clergy member ...

Do you peruse church bulletins online to find convenient-for-you confession times? Do you have a “game plan” for making it to the confessional ahead of a popular Mass time? Mary Farrow is one of the ...

Church and government leaders in France are at odds over whether priests should be required to report the abuse of minors if they learn about it in the sacrament of confession. Archbishop Eric de ...

A priest hearing confession at a Rome church on March 26, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. (CNS photo/Remo Casilli, Reuters) Almost 50 years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger raised a concern for both ...

Eds: This story was supplied by The Conversation for AP customers. The Associated Press does not guarantee the content. Timothy Gabrielli, University of Dayton (THE CONVERSATION) The 1953 Alfred ...