IN AN INTERVIEW with a Jesuit magazine in 2013, Pope Francis declared, “The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.” This is not how ...

Anyone who has befriended, dated, or worked with someone who is willing to admit dishonest behavior in the past is familiar with the question of how a confessed checkered past will predict the future.

Most people believe they would never confess to a crime they didn’t commit. The idea feels totally counterintuitive to most of us: why would anyone willingly admit to something that could lead to ...

Regarding John J. Miller’s review of “For I Have Sinned” (Books, March 1), I date my lapse from Catholicism to a priest’s too-forgiving reaction to a confession I made at age 14. I told him I’d stolen ...