Early last month, lawmakers in Washington state enacted a new law, set to take effect in late July, that will mandate Catholic priests to report child abuse they learn about in the context of confession — forcing priests to risk automatic excommunication from the Church for breaking the sacramental seal.

What does this mean for the Church in the Northwest and across the country in other legislative hot spots? This week on RR we are joined by Register staff writer Jonah McKeown.

And then, a month has passed since the election of Pope Leo XIV and Register Senior Editor Jonathan Liedl discusses how the new pontiff has settled in and what we can discern about his impending decisions.