Catholic bishops vote to ban gender transition remedy at US hospitals

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U.S. Catholic bishops voted on Wednesday to formally declare a ban on gender transition remedy for transgender sufferers at Catholic hospitals.

The bishops, gathered in a Baltimore resort ballroom, overwhelmingly accepted revisions to their directives for the hundreds of Catholic well being care establishments and suppliers within the nation, formalizing a yearslong course of for the U.S. church to deal with transgender remedy choices.

Bishops may have autonomy in placing the brand new directives into regulation for his or her dioceses.

Multiple in seven sufferers within the U.S. are handled every day at Catholic hospitals, in response to the Catholic Well being Affiliation. In some areas, Catholic hospitals are the one medical facilities obtainable.

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Rev. Michael J.Okay. Fuller, Archbishop Timothy Broglio and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore conduct the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops plenary meeting in Baltimore, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP)

Most Catholic well being care establishments haven't provided gender transition remedy, together with hormonal, psychological and surgical remedies.

"With regard to the gender ideology, I feel it’s essential the church makes a powerful assertion right here," Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese mentioned through the public dialogue of the revised directives.

The Catholic Well being Affiliation thanked the bishops for incorporating a lot of its suggestions into the brand new directives.

"Catholic suppliers will proceed to welcome those that search medical care from us and determine as transgender," the group mentioned in a press release. "We'll proceed to deal with these people with dignity and respect, which is in line with Catholic social instructing and our ethical obligation to serve everybody, significantly those that are marginalized."

The brand new directives incorporate earlier paperwork on gender id from the Vatican final yr and the U.S. bishops the yr earlier than.

Within the 2023 doctrinal be aware titled "Ethical Limits to the Technological Manipulation of the Human Physique," the bishops said that "Catholic well being care providers should not carry out interventions, whether or not surgical or chemical, that goal to rework the sexual traits of a human physique into these of the alternative intercourse, or participate within the growth of such procedures."

However some parishes and clergymen welcome transgender Catholics, whereas others are much less accepting.

SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF FAITH-BASED COUNSELING ON GENDER IDENTITY IS PROTECTED SPEECH

<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/11/672/378/bishop-robert-barron-minnesotas-winona-rochester-diocese.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/11/1344/756/bishop-robert-barron-minnesotas-winona-rochester-diocese.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/11/931/523/bishop-robert-barron-minnesotas-winona-rochester-diocese.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/11/1862/1046/bishop-robert-barron-minnesotas-winona-rochester-diocese.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese mentioned it was "essential" the church make a powerful assertion on gender id. (Getty Pictures)

"Catholic instructing upholds the invaluable dignity of each human life, and for a lot of trans folks, gender-affirming care is what makes life livable," mentioned Michael Sennett, a transgender man who's energetic in his Massachusetts parish and serves on the board of New Methods Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Catholic Church.

New Methods Ministry organized a gathering final yr with the late Pope Francis to debate gender transition remedy.

The group's government director, Francis DeBernardo, mentioned that for a lot of transgender Catholics he has spoken to, "the transition course of was not only a organic necessity, however a non secular crucial," including: "That in the event that they have been going to be residing as genuine folks in the best way that they consider God made them, then transition turns into a essential factor."

Additionally on Wednesday, as U.S. Catholic bishops have been discussing gender id, the heads of a number of progressive spiritual denominations issued a press release in help of transgender folks.

"Throughout a time when our nation is putting their lives underneath more and more severe risk, there's a disgraceful false impression that each one folks of religion don't affirm the total spectrum of gender – an amazing many people do. Let or not it's recognized as an alternative that our beloveds are created within the picture of God – Holy and entire," reads the assertion from the ten signers, together with the heads of the Unitarian Universalist Affiliation, the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Along with the Catholic bishops' dialogue on gender id, they overwhelmingly accepted a "particular message" condemning the Trump administration's immigration agenda .

Catholic leaders have criticized the president's mass deportation agenda, as worry of immigration raids has slashed Mass attendance at some parishes.

The federal authorities earlier this yr reversed a Biden administration directive for immigration brokers to not perform enforcement operations at delicate areas corresponding to church buildings and hospitals.

Most Catholic well being care establishments haven't provided gender transition remedy, together with hormonal, psychological and surgical remedies. (Mike Kemp/In Photos through Getty Pictures))

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"We're disturbed once we see amongst our folks a local weather of worry and anxiousness round questions of profiling and immigration enforcement," the bishops’ assertion on Wednesday reads. "We're saddened by the state of up to date debate and the vilification of immigrants. We're involved in regards to the situations in detention facilities and the shortage of entry to pastoral care."