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We Catholic Bishops voted Wednesday to officially ban gender-affirming care for transgender patients in Catholic hospitals. The move formalizes the American church’s years-long process to address transgender health care.
from a baltimore In the hotel ballroom, the bishops approved sweeping revisions to their ethical and religious directives that guide thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers across the country.
According to the Catholic Health Association, one in seven patients in the US each day are treated in Catholic hospitals. In some communities, Catholic hospitals are the only medical facilities.
Major medical groups and health organizations support gender-affirming care for transgender patients.
Most Catholic health care institutions have taken a conservative approach and do not offer gender-affirming care, which can include hormonal, psychological, and surgical treatments. The new instructions will formalize that mandate. bishop They would have autonomy in legislating instructions for their dioceses.
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona, Minnesota said, “With regard to gender ideology, I think it’s very important that the Church make a strong statement here.”Rochester Diocese during public discussion of the revised instructions.
The new guidelines incorporate earlier documents on gender identity from the Vatican in 2024 and U.S. bishops in 2023.
In a 2023 doctrinal note titled, “The moral limits of technological manipulation of the human body,” the bishops specified: “Catholic health care services should not carry out interventions, whether surgical or chemical, whose purpose is to change the sexual characteristics of the human body to those of the opposite sex, or participate in the development of such procedures.”
Progressive religious voices respond
The Catholic Church is not monolithic when it comes to transgender rights. Some parishes and priests welcome trans Catholics, while others do not.
Michael Sennett, a trans man active in a Massachusetts parish, said, “Catholic teaching upholds the inestimable dignity of every human life, and for many trans people, gender-affirming care is what makes life worth living.”
Sennett serves on the board of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. In 2024, the group arranged a meeting with Pope Francis to discuss the need for gender-affirming care.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, said he knew that for many transgender Catholics, “the transition process was not just a biological necessity, but a spiritual imperative if they wanted to live as authentic people in the way they believe God made them, transition becomes a necessary thing.”
On the same day that U.S. Catholic bishops were discussing gender identity, the heads of several major progressive religious denominations issued a statement in support of transgender, intersex and non-binary people, at a time when many state legislatures and the Trump administration are cutting their rights.
The 10 signatories included the heads of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
“At a time when our country is putting their lives in grave danger, there is an outrageous misconception that all people of faith do not affirm the full spectrum of gender – far too many of us do. Instead, know that our loved ones are created in the image of God – holy and perfect,” the religious leaders said in a statement.
US bishops united in their concern for immigrants
Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved a “special message” on immigration on Wednesday as they concluded their conference in Baltimore. Such pastoral statements are rare; The last one was in 2013 in response to the Obama administration’s order for insurers to provide contraceptive coverage.
Catholic leaders have individually criticized the Trump administration’s immigration actions. Mass attendance has declined in some parishes due to fear of immigration enforcement. Local clerics are struggling to impart the sacraments to detained immigrants.
“We are troubled when we see a climate of fear and anxiety among our people surrounding questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops’ statement said. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and condemnation of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions of detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”
In a show of unity, several bishops stood up to speak in favor of the statement during the final afternoon discussion, including the conference’s president-elect, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley.
“I strongly support this, both for the well-being of our immigrant brothers and sisters, but also to find a good balance,” Coakley said. He said he “calls on our lawmakers and our administration to offer a meaningful path to reform our immigration system.”
Cardinal Blaise Cupich of Chicago stepped to the microphone to recommend stronger language about mass deportation. “This seems to be the main issue that we are facing with our people at the moment,” he said.
His brother bishop agreed. The updated text now states that U.S. Catholic bishops “oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”
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