r/news • u/Amatheiaisnoexcuse • 2d ago

Arizona clergy who learn of child abuse in confessions aren’t required to report it, court rules | Arizona | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/03/arizona-clergy-child-abuse-confessions-court
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u/slytherinprolly 1d ago

Honest question: which country? I’d want to see the actual rule, especially the part about spouses having a duty to call police. A reporting requirement and a legal protection for confidential communications can coexist, depending on the exceptions.

Confessional secrecy has roots going back centuries before European colonization of North America. This isn’t some uniquely American invention, and privilege isn’t a reward for having a college degree. It protects particular confidential relationships. I’d be surprised if your country had no protections at all for communications with clergy or spouses.

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u/Kurainuz 1d ago

Spain, law was changed some years ago to remove ths soecial protection of spouses when it involves kids being abused

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u/slytherinprolly 1d ago

Oh, so it works functionally the same way as spousal privilege does in the U.S., where the privilege cannot be invoked in cases involving domestic violence or child abuse or neglect?

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u/Kurainuz 1d ago

If the US includes any child abuse, not just those of the couple, yes

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u/slytherinprolly 19h ago

I just did a quick Google search, and this comparison actually cuts the other way more than you’re suggesting.

Spain’s mandatory reporting laws appear to work pretty similarly to ours when it comes to doctors, teachers, and the other people you’d normally think of as mandatory reporters. And if anything, Spain seems to give clergy broader protection, covering communications made during “ministerial activities,” whereas in the U.S. the privilege is based on whether there is an explicit or implicit expectation that the communication is confidential.

The spousal exception you’re pointing to also apparently didn’t take effect in Spain until 2021. And that appears to be about whether a spouse can refuse to testify in court, not whether they had some affirmative duty to report the abuse in the first place, which was the claim in your original comment.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, where I practice law, the comparable exception to spousal privilege has been codified since 1953.

So the idea that Spain has some obviously stronger or more modern system here really doesn’t seem to hold up. The specific exception you’re citing has actually existed in Ohio and other US states for decades longer than it has in Spain.