Push to require clergy to report abuse stalls in Mormon Utah This is sort of weird (and, I think, slanted) phrasing.  A "loophole" is typically "a small mistake {in the text of a law} which allows people to do something that would otherwise be illegal."  Per Wikipedia: The clergy-penitent privilege is not a whoopsy-daisy.  It's not an error or oversight.  It is, instead, a law (sometimes also a rule of evidence and/or procedure) which has been specifically and intentionally created