§ 19.2-271.3 Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)
No regular minister, priest, rabbi or accredited practitioner over the age of eighteen years, of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church, shall be required in giving testimony as a witness in any criminal action to disclose any information communicated to him by the accused in a confidential manner, properly entrusted to him in his professional capacity and necessary to enable him to discharge the functions of his office according to the usual course of his practice or discipline, where such person so communicating such information about himself or another is seeking spiritual counsel and advice relative to and growing out of the information so imparted.
History
This law was first created in 1985. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapter 570 of that year’s edition of “Acts of Assembly,” the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year. Unfortunately, the 1985 “Acts” aren’t available online.
1985, c. 570.