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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).

The Haitian Conference of Religious (CDH) reported that a minor seminary run by the Spiritan Fathers was attacked April 1 by crime gangs amid the wave of violence that has been unleashed in the Caribbean country in recent weeks.

"It is with indignation that we note how sons and daughters of the country are attacking private and state property without scruple and endanger the lives of other people who seem to have no value in their eyes. Thus, on the evening of April 1, 2024, the St. Martial Minor Seminary School, a historic institution, was in the eye of the raging and devastating cyclone of a category of people who know no limits," the CDH lamented in a statement.

The criminals set fire to the computer room and looted the seminary library. In addition, several vehicles were burned.

That day, the same criminal gangs tried to take by force the National Palace of Haiti, which houses the offices of the president, although they failed thanks to the actions of the Haitian police and the support of the building's security units. Five officials were injured in the incident, one of them seriously.

Since the beginning of March, the political and social situation in Haiti has deteriorated exponentially. The crisis is a consequence — largely — of the unfettered actions of crime gangs that control approximately 80% of Port-au-Prince, the country's capital.

The Spiritan missionaries have been the latest in a long list of religious and laypeople who have been victims of violence. Given the reality, the CDH expressed, once again, "its deep pain at the dizzying chaotic situation" that the country is going through.

In the middle of Holy Week, Father Morachel Bonhomme, president of the CDH, encouraged members to keep up their constant prayers "for so many communities and citizens" who are prevented from living normally "because of the infernal and murderous insecurity" that affects all of Haiti.

The U.N.'s urgent appeal

Also during Holy Week, on March 28, the United Nations recommended "immediate and bold action" to address the difficult situation in the Caribbean country.

The U.N. said the rule of law in Haiti is practically nonexistent and that state institutions are "on the verge of collapse."

"Tackling insecurity must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering. It is equally important to protect institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been attacked at their very core," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

According to the organization, the number of victims of violence in Haiti increased considerably in 2023, compared with previous years, with 4,451 people dead and 1,668 injured. In the first three months of 2024, 1,554 people were killed and 826 injured (as of March 22).

Furthermore, the U.N. reported that sexual violence against women by crime gangs has worsened in recent weeks and that the majority of cases are not reported and remain unpunished.

Finally, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) stressed that education will be key to achieving peace and well-being in Haiti.

"In a country facing increasingly complex conflicts and instability, education can never be considered simply an option; it must be recognized as a necessity, a matter of survival and a key to social stability," the agency concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Vatican City, Apr 3, 2024 / 09:05 am (CNA).

Pope Francis during his general audience on Wednesday deplored the recent killing of humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip, with the Holy Father renewing his appeal for an immediate cease-fire amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. 

The pope buttressed his plea with a catechesis focused on the virtue of justice, noting that it is the building block for a well-ordered society premised upon the rule of law. 

"I express deep regret for the volunteers killed while distributing food aid in Gaza," the pope said to the 25,000 gathered in St. Peter's Square on an overcast Wednesday morning. 

Seven volunteers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli strike on Monday while traveling in a "deconflicted zone" after delivering 100 tons of food aid to a town in central Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident "tragic," suggesting that the Israel Defense Forces "unintentionally struck innocent people in the Gaza Strip." 

Pope Francis on Wednesday reiterated his regular call for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip so that the "exhausted and suffering civilian population be allowed access to humanitarian aid." The civilian death toll continues to mount in the beleaguered zone with reportedly nearly 33,000 deaths.

The pope also turned his attention to the ongoing war in "tormented" Ukraine. At one point Francis set down the text of his address to hold up a rosary and a copy of the New Testament that belonged to a slain 23-year-old Ukranian soldier named Oleksandr.

"This 23-year-old boy died in Avdiïvka, in the war. He left a life ahead of him," the pope said. "I would like to have a little silence at this moment, everyone, thinking of this boy and of many others like him who died in this madness of war. War always destroys! Let us think of them and pray."

Against the backdrop of these parallel conflicts, the pope framed his reflection on the virtue of justice, observing that it forms the basis of a well-ordered civil society that is built upon the rule of law — a principle of governance premised on the impartial application of legal norms for all citizens, institutions, and leaders. 

"Without justice, there is no peace," Pope Francis said. "Indeed, if justice is not respected, conflicts arise. Without justice, the law of the prevalence of the strong over the weak is entrenched." 

The pope stressed that justice is as a critical underpinning for the common good and the management of civil society, noting: "It is the virtue of law that seeks to regulate the relations between people equitably." 

"A world without laws," without justice  — and the corollary virtues of "benevolence, respect, gratitude, affability, and honesty" — would "be a world in which it is impossible to live," the pope said.

"The righteous person reveres laws and respects them, knowing that they constitute a barrier protecting the defenseless from the tyranny of the powerful," the pope expressed. "The righteous person does not think only of his own individual well-being but desires the good of society as a whole." 

The pope defined the characteristics of the "righteous person" in part as one who "desires an orderly society."

"He desires an orderly society, where people give luster to the office they hold, and not the other way around. He abhors recommendations and does not trade favors. He loves responsibility and is exemplary in promoting legality," the pope continued. 

The pope stressed the importance of imparting the virtue of justice into young people so as to build a "culture of legality."

"It is the way to prevent the cancer of corruption and to eliminate criminality, removing the ground from beneath it."

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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

"We are destroying ourselves little by little," the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico said in condemnation of the recent kidnapping and murder of an 8-year-old girl, Camila, which was followed by a vigilante reprisal against the alleged perpetrators.

In an editorial in its weekly publication "Desde la Fe" ("From a Faith Perspective"), the Archdiocese of Mexico questioned: "How many more dead girls? How many more lynchings [mob justice]? How many more injustices? When will we understand that violence only generates more violence?"

Faced with this tragedy, which is evidence of "a number of the problems that have torn the social fabric," the archdiocese urged the people to resist the feelings of "selfishness, fear, and bitterness, suffering and death, which close off the way to joy and hope."

In the context of the celebration of Easter Sunday, the editorial reminded readers that "Jesus is alive, as is his message," emphasizing that "no painful, selfish, and cruel event can guide our path, much less have the last word in the destiny of our country."

Camila's death

Camila disappeared in the town of Taxco in the Mexican state of Guerrero after going out to play on Wednesday, March 27. According to local media reports, the girl's mother received anonymous calls demanding money in exchange for the release of her daughter.

Camila's body was discovered the next day inside a plastic bag on the side of the highway that connects Taxco with the city of Cuernavaca in the neighboring state of Morelos.

Based on security camera footage, local residents identified three suspects — two men and a woman — and brutally beat them for want of action from the authorities. The men were later hospitalized, but the woman, who was held responsible for the kidnapping, died from the beating.

The Guerrero state attorney general's office reported March 29 and March 30 the arrests of three people possibly connected with the crime. One was the boyfriend of the woman beaten to death and the others were two of her sons, one an adult and the other a minor.

Response of the Catholic Church

The bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, José de Jesús González Hernández, whose diocese includes the Taxco area, expressed his sorrow for Camila's death.

According to the weekly publication Proceso, on March 31, Bishop González Hernández said at the conclusion of the celebration of Mass in the Chilapa cathedral: "The death of an innocent person is very painful, and then how they let themselves be carried away by a spirit of rebellion, impulsiveness, inhuman enough to kill another person by their own hands. That shouldn't happen."

"The entire society can be destroyed if there is no one to guarantee the minimum of human rights," the prelate warned.

"As humans we need to control ourselves, control those spirits that surely move us, spirits of injustice, of not obeying the law," he added.

Violence not what Jesus 'won for us with his resurrection'

The auxiliary bishop of Puebla, Francisco Javier Martínez Castillo, used the Collect prayer for Sunday's Mass to lead a special prayer for "the girl Camila, kidnapped and murdered in Taxco, and for the consolation of her family."

During his homily, the prelate called on Catholics not to let "death and violence, contempt and attacks on life go on." Martínez stressed that "violations of the dignity of the human person constitute true attacks on the original project intended by God for the development of our existence."

"When we act in this way [violently], we are reaffirming that we have become accustomed to death and pain, and that is not what Jesus won for us with his resurrection," he said.

This story was first publishedby ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Boston, Mass., Apr 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

What do St. John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska have in common? They both became saints and were instrumental in the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday, which offers many graces to the faithful. 

When Divine Mercy Sunday rolls around again this year, the faithful have the opportunity to take refuge in the depths of Christ's mercy by receiving either a plenary or partial indulgence.

Here are some facts about Divine Mercy Sunday, including the Church's guidance on how to receive indulgences on the day:

What is Divine Mercy Sunday?

Divine Mercy Sunday is the Sunday after Easter each year. Divine Mercy Sunday was first announced in an April 2000 homily given by Pope John Paul II for the Mass celebrating the canonization of Maria Faustina Kowalska.

St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who received prophetic messages from Christ. These messages included revelations about the infinite mercy of God — coined "the divine mercy" — and her obligation to spread the message to the world as recorded in her diary, "Divine Mercy in My Soul."

The late pope said in his homily that "the light of divine mercy, which the Lord in a way wished to return to the world through Sister Faustina's charism, will illumine the way for the men and women of the third millennium."

John Paul II granted plenary and partial indulgences to the faithful who observed certain pious practices on Divine Mercy Sunday each year in a June 2002 decree. He did this to ??inspire the faithful in devotion to the divine mercy. 

What is an indulgence?

An indulgence is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sins that have already been forgiven, and it can be plenary or partial.

Plenary indulgence 

A plenary indulgence can be obtained by going to a church on Divine Mercy Sunday "in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin," and participating in the prayers held in honor of Divine Mercy, the 2002 decree says.

Those practices could consist of devotions such as the Divine Mercy chaplet, Eucharistic adoration, and the sacrament of confession. 

The faithful could also visit the Blessed Sacrament either exposed or in the tabernacle and recite the Our Father, the Nicene Creed, and a devout prayer to Christ. The example of a devout prayer that is given in the decree is "Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"

In order to receive the indulgence, the three usual conditions of going to confession, receiving Communion, and praying for the intentions of the Holy Father must also be met. While it is appropriate that the two sacraments be received on the same day, the Church permits them to be received up to about 20 days before or after the day the indulgenced work is performed.

Can't make it to a church? Be not afraid

For the sick or others who are unable to make it to church that day, a plenary indulgence may still be obtained. One must intend to make a confession, receive Communion, and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father as soon as possible, while praying one Our Father and the Nicene Creed before an image of Jesus. In addition, one also must pray "a devout invocation" to Christ such as "Merciful Jesus, I trust in you."

For those faithful who cannot fulfill those obligations either, it is still possible to earn a plenary indulgence. If "with a spiritual intention" people unite themselves to all the faithful hoping to obtain the indulgence through the prescribed prayers, and they offer a prayer and their sufferings to Christ, then they are able to obtain the plenary indulgence. They also must intend to go to confession, receive Communion, and pray for the pope as soon as possible. 

Partial indulgence

A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who on that day pray "a legitimately approved invocation" with a contrite heart. As is written in the decree, this invocation could be "Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!"

This story was first published on CNA on April 21, 2022, and has been updated.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After obtaining a dispensation from Pope Francis, the bishop emeritus of Solsona in Spain, Xavier Novell, has entered into a canonical marriage with psychologist and author Silvia Caballol.

Caballol announced the marriage on Instagram this week, saying: "Xavier and I have finally been able to get married in the Church, thanks to the mercy of the Holy Father who has granted him laicization."

"It has been a long road, but we have been able to regularize our canonical situation: to get married as we wanted to and be able to receive Communion again," Caballol announced.

"I don't think our love nor the Church deserves to be hidden. Nor do I believe that the cover-up that accompanied my husband's resignation [as diocesan bishop] two and a half years ago was entirely correct," she added.

"Sorry to all of you who think it would have been better to keep it a secret, but I cannot continue to act in a way that I do not think or feel. Having said that, I can't do anything but show, once again, the beauty of love. Happy Easter Monday, a day to be reborn like flowers, bud forth like trees, and to resurrect like the [Son of] Man." The psychologist concluded her message with a photo of her husband and herself in a wedding kiss.

Who is Xavier Novell?

Xavier Novell was born in 1969 in Lérida province in Spain. After completing his studies in agricultural technical engineering at the University of Lérida, he began his ecclesiastical studies.

Novell graduated in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1997 and was ordained a priest that same year. He served as a parochial vicar and as professor of theological anthropology for a few years. In 2005 he was appointed secretary general and chancellor of the Diocese of Solsona. He was named a chaplain of His Holiness on July 23, 2008. He also served as secretary to Bishop Jaume Traserra, who headed the Diocese of Solsona until 2010.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Novell bishop of Solsona on Nov. 3, 2010, and he was consecrated on Dec. 12 of that year at age 41, becoming the youngest bishop in the Spanish episcopate.

On Aug. 23, 2021, Pope Francis accepted his resignation. According to the Diocese of Solsona, Novell resigned for "strictly personal reasons in accordance with what is established in Canon 401 §2 of the Code of Canon Law."

In September 2021, articles began appearing in the press reporting that Novell, then 52, had moved to Manresa to live with Caballol, who was 38 at the time.

After the news broke, the racy character of some of her literary works became known. Defending her two novels, the author said that she wrote them "during a very particular time in my life," adding that "whoever is free from sin can cast the first stone. Many have already thrown them, believing themselves to be superior in values and morals." 

The archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Juan José Omella, asked at the time that the couple's unfolding situation not be turned "into a morbid novel."

After Novell contracted a civil marriage with Caballol before a justice of the peace, the Spanish Bishops' Conference issued a statement in December 2021 making it clear that "Canon 1394.1 of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church stipulates that 'A cleric who attempts marriage, even if only civilly, incurs a 'latae sententiae' suspension.'"

Bishop Romá Casanova, who was appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Solsona following Novell's resignation, declared that after entering a civil marriage, Novell was thus prohibited from exercising the priesthood or pastoral governance and "the exercise of all rights and functions inherent to the episcopal office."

In April 2022, Caballol gave birth to twins fathered by Novell. She has three other children from a previous marriage.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed a bill that legalizes and regulates paid surrogacy in the state.

Michigan will join the large majority of states in the country that permit paid surrogacy. The only remaining states to not permit paid surrogacy are Nebraska and Louisiana.

The law reverses a 36-year-old prohibition on paid surrogacy in Michigan. The Legislature initially banned the market through the Michigan Surrogate Parenting Act in 1988, which made all compensatory surrogacy contracts unenforceable and the creation of such contracts punishable by fines and up to a year in prison.

To procreate through surrogacy, doctors typically create several embryos through IVF by fertilizing a woman's egg with a man's sperm in a lab and then implant one of the embryos in another woman, called the surrogate mother, who has no biological ties to the preborn child. In the IVF process, doctors routinely create numerous excess embryos, most of whom are discarded, which ends human lives.

The legislation was part of a nine-bill package titled the Michigan Family Protection Act. The new laws in Michigan ease the process for couples to obtain legal parental rights over the children created through surrogacy when donor eggs or sperm are used. They will effectively reduce the amount of paperwork and documentation both heterosexual and same-sex couples need.

"Decisions about if, when, and how to have a child should be left to a family, their doctor, and those they love and trust, not politicians," Whitmer said after signing the legislation. 

"If we want more people and families to 'make it' in Michigan, we need to support them with the resources they need to make these deeply personal, life-changing choices," the governor continued. 

"The Michigan Family Protection Act takes commonsense, long-overdue action to repeal Michigan's ban on surrogacy, protect families formed by IVF, and ensure LGBTQ+ parents are treated equally. Your family's decisions should be up to you, and my legislative partners and I will keep fighting like hell to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan and make our state the best place to start, raise, and grow your family," she said.

Michigan lawmakers introduced the package of bills in response to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that recognized the personhood of preborn children created through IVF at the moment of fertilization. Because the destruction of human embryos is integral to the IVF process, the ruling immediately shut down several IVF clinics in Alabama until Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bipartisan bill to shield clinics from civil and criminal penalties when destroying human embryos.

Amber Roseboom, the president of Right to Life of Michigan, criticized the governor's package of bills, calling it "a disgraceful election year attempt to mislead voters with the fantasy that IVF, prenatal care, and abortion are at risk in Michigan."

The Catholic Church opposes both IVF and surrogacy because they separate the marital act from the process of procreation and result in the destruction of human embryonic life. Earlier this year, Pope Francis called surrogacy "deplorable" and called for a global ban on the exploitative practice of "so-called surrogate motherhood."

"I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother's material needs," Francis said in a speech to ambassadors to the Vatican. "A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract."

The Vatican intends to unveil a declaration on human dignity next week, which is expected to touch on several issues, including gender ideology and surrogacy.

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CNA Staff, Apr 2, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday for a case that will determine if the state can fund a Catholic charter school. 

The case, Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, follows the board's decision to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The school would become the nation's first religious charter school.

Charter schools are publicly funded but privately run education institutions that retain autonomy in how they are run while still being publicly accountable.

Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued on Tuesday against the board's approval of the school. In the lawsuit, filed in October 2023, Drummond argued that the school's existence is an unconstitutional "harm to religious liberty" that sets a precedent that could require the state to fund a "public charter school teaching Sharia Law."  

In the lawsuit Drummond declared himself "duty bound to file [the lawsuit] to protect religious liberty and prevent the type of state-funded religion that Oklahoma's constitutional framers and the founders of our country sought to prevent."

But supporters argue that refusing to allow the school to operate as a charter school is religious discrimination. 

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal organization dedicated to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life, will represent the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. 

ADF attorneys argue that the state cannot discriminate against St. Isidore's based on its religious background "by denying public funding to religious schools simply because they are religious." 

ADF senior counsel Phil Sechler said in an April 1 statement that the U.S. Constitution and Oklahoma's Religious Freedom Act "both protect St. Isidore's freedom to operate according to its faith." 

"We urge the state's high court to reject this legal challenge that discriminates against religion and affirm the constitutionally protected rights of religious groups to be treated the same as their secular counterparts," he continued.

"Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more choices, not fewer," he added. 

The Oklahoma case happens in the larger context of the national "school choice" debate and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in favor of religious freedom in education. For instance, a 2022 Supreme Court ruling found that Maine couldn't exclude religious schools from a tuition aid program. Meanwhile, other states have established voucher systems allowing tuition aid for students to attend private religious schools.  

Local Catholic Church leaders have expressed support for the school. Bishop David Konderla of the Diocese of Tulsa promoted the opening of the school as "fully Catholic in its curriculum and mission" in a March 5 letter. 

"It is the first religious charter school in the nation and will allow us to bring Catholic education to Catholic and non-Catholic students across Oklahoma at no cost to the families," he continued. 

The school will be largely virtual, but leadership intends to seek out "partner parishes willing to serve as hubs for occasional gatherings of local students," Konderla explained.

"This new education opportunity will give us the ability to reach families in all corners of our state, especially in rural areas of Oklahoma, which have limited or no Catholic educational options," he added. "St. Isidore welcomes both Catholic and non-Catholic students who believe this model of education will be a great benefit to them."

"Legal challenges still exist, but we remain strong in our pursuit of this worthy endeavor," he noted.  

The ADF will also represent the Oklahoma School Board in a related case, the Oklahoma Parent Legislative Action Committee v. Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.

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CNA Staff, Apr 2, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Following more than 250 lawsuits alleging abuse against the Diocese of Sacramento, Bishop Jaime Soto announced on Monday that the diocese will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

California's Child Victims Act, signed in 2019 and enacted at the beginning of 2021, extended the statute of limitations on clergy sexual abuse. Since then, survivors of abuse have brought forward more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other employees going back to the 1950s.

"There are many victim-survivors who have long suffered from the reprehensible sins committed against them," Soto said in an April 1 statement. "This reorganization process will allow me to respond to them as equitably as possible."

Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy will enable a court to oversee the distribution of the diocese's available assets to satisfy the claims, the diocese, which has more than 100 parishes serving more than 1 million Catholics, noted in its statement. 

The process will create a fund "to be distributed to victim-survivors as equitably as possible," the diocese stated. 

"Without this process, it is likely that diocesan funds would be exhausted by the first cases to proceed to trial, leaving nothing for the many other victim-survivors still waiting for their day in court," the diocese noted.

Sacramento is one of many dioceses to file for bankruptcy in recent years, including its neighbors, the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, as well as several New York dioceses. 

"It is the sickening sin of sexual abuse — and the failure of Church leadership to address it appropriately — that brought us to this place," said Soto, who has overseen the Diocese of Sacramento since 2008. "I must atone for these sins." 

Soto previously announced his plan to file for bankruptcy in a December 2023 letter, where he said that bankruptcy was the "only respectful, transparent, and fair way to address the substantial number of claims" and "sustain the sanctifying, teaching, and charitable work" of the diocese.

California's Child Victims Act allows civil claims of childhood sexual abuse to be filed by victims until age 40, or five years after discovering the damages from the abuse. Previously, claims had to be filed by age 26, or within three years of discovering damages from the abuse.

The law opened up a three-year window on Jan. 1, 2020, to revive past claims that would have expired under the previous statute of limitations.

In December 2019, California subpoenaed six dioceses in the state, including Sacramento and San Francisco, as part of a review of child protection policies.

Soto said in 2019 that the subpoenas "will move us toward our shared goal of ensuring that the safeguards in place for our children are working as they should."

The diocese also set up a webpage with updates on the court proceedings. 

"Join me in praying for the healing of victim-survivors," Soto said in the Monday statement. "The pain inflicted on them lasts a lifetime, and so our atonement must be a lifetime commitment."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).

A new hate speech law that went into effect in Scotland on Monday could prompt investigations into those, such as author J.K. Rowling, who refer to transgender individuals by their biological sex, rather than their self-proclaimed gender identity, a Scottish minister said.

Under the new law, which went into effect on April 1, 2024, a person will face up to seven years in prison for stirring up hatred against a person based on his or her "transgender identity." The law expanded existing hate speech laws that already banned people from stirring up hatred based on a person's race.

The law does not explicitly prohibit so-called "misgendering," which is when someone refers to a transgender person by his or her biological sex rather than his or her self-proclaimed gender identity.

However, Scottish Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown, in an interview with BBC Radio 4 Today, according to the Telegraph, said that police would have the discretion about whether to investigate those types of comments and whether to investigate Rowling, specifically, who has been an outspoken critic of gender ideology. 

"There's a very high threshold, which is in the Act, which would be up to Police Scotland, and what would have to be said online or in person would be threatening and abusive," Brown told BBC Radio 4 Today, according to The Telegraph. 

Brown noted that the law did not explicitly make it a crime to "misgender" someone. But when asked about a Scottish National Party Councillor saying that Rowling is "not entitled to make people feel uncomfortable and to misgender someone," Brown said it "would be a police matter for them to assess what happens."

However, Brown also said that she does not believe the law makes it illegal to convey "a personal opinion that is challenging or offensive" and further claimed: "We respect everybody's freedom for expression, and nobody in our society should live in fear or be made to feel like they don't belong."

What did J.K. Rowling say about transgenderism?

Rowling, who authored the best-selling Harry Potter series, has been an outspoken critic of allowing biological males who identify as women to enter into women's sports and women's locker rooms. She frequently refers to biological males who identify as women with male pronouns and continued to do so on April 1, in spite of the new Scottish law. She recently dared the Scottish police to arrest her. 

"For several years now, Scottish women have been pressured by their government and members of the police force to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears, repudiate biological facts and embrace a neo-religious concept of gender that is unprovable and untestable," Rowling said in a series of posts on X.

"The re-definition of 'woman' to include every man who declares himself one has already had serious consequences for women's and girls' rights and safety in Scotland, with the strongest impact felt, as ever, by the most vulnerable, including female prisoners and rape survivors," Rowling continued. 

"It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women's and girls' rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man. Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal."

Rowling added that she is "currently out of the country, but if what I've written here qualifies as an [offense] under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment."

The new law did not include a prohibition on stirring hatred up against someone based on his or her gender. 

Scottish police on Tuesday afternoon said that Rowling's comments on social media, daring the police to arrest her, would not make her a subject of an investigation, The Guardian reported.

Police Scotland "confirmed they had received complaints about the social media post," the outlet said, but added: "The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken."

Rowling then shared the news on X: "I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women — irrespective of profile or financial means — will be treated equally under the law," she wrote.

What has the Catholic Church said about the law?

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland has also been critical of the new law, warning that the bishops are "deeply concerned" that it does not include protections for Christians who expressed traditional Christian views about gender. 

"There should be no threat of prosecution for expressing the belief that, for example, there are only two sexes or genders; that a man cannot become a woman and vice versa; or that marriage can only be between one man and one woman," the Catholic Parliamentary Office, a public policy agency of the Scottish bishops, said at the time. 

This article has been updated.

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Rome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican's top doctrinal office next week will unveil a new declaration on the theme of human dignity, one that is expected to address a range of contemporary moral issues including gender ideology and surrogacy.  

The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that the new document, titled Dignitas Infinita ("Infinite Dignity") (On Human Dignity), will be debuted at a press conference held in Rome on April 8.

The conference will include presentations by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF); Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary for the doctrinal section of the DDF; and Professor Paola Scarcella of Rome's Tor Vergata and LUMSA universities. 

In an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, in early March, Fernández said there had been "several versions" of the text and that it was "almost finished" and would be published in "early April." 

The cardinal's comments came after he told Spanish news agency EFE in January that the text would address "not only social issues but also a strong criticism of moral questions such as sex-change surgery, surrogacy, and gender ideology."

In recent months and years Pope Francis has spoken out strongly on these topics. In a January address to the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, the pope called surrogacy "deplorable."

In March, meanwhile, the Holy Father labeled transgender ideology as "the ugliest danger" today, one that "seeks to blur differences between men and women." 

Since assuming the top spot at the DDF last September, Fernández has faced backlash over the December DDF document Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed for the "spontaneous" (nonliturgical) blessing of same-sex couples as well as those in "irregular" unions. 

The Argentine cardinal in his interview with EFE argued that "people who are concerned" about his work will "be put at ease" by the new document.  

Since the publication of Fiducia Supplicans, Pope Francis has publicly defended the directive on numerous occasions. In February he argued that individuals who are critical of blessings for homosexuals are guilty of "hypocrisy" if they are not similarly opposed to blessings for certain other types of sinners. 

Some of the strongest pushback against Fiducia Supplicans has come from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) as well as from other Christian leaders with which the Church holds ecumenical dialogue. 

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