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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said the State Department is currently determining which foreign aid programs will be granted exemptions from the Trump administration's plans to freeze spending at USAID.

Rubio, at a press conference in Guatemala, said the State Department is now working "to identify which programs should be specifically designated and therefore exempted" from President Donald Trump's funding freeze and stop-work orders. 

The secretary of state also said the State Department has reached out to USAID officials to help determine these exemptions.

The Trump administration announced on Monday that all USAID employees would be put on leave and global personnel would be recalled in light of Trump's executive order, which put a 90-day freeze on most foreign funding last month. The order, which Trump signed directly after his inauguration, gives Rubio the power to "waive the pause for specific programs."

Rubio while on a five-day trip in Latin America clarified during the conference that funding "will not continue" for programs that do not further U.S. interests.

According to an Associated Press report, after Trump issued the order, Rubio exempted emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt. On Tuesday AP reported that he agreed to continue spending funds on "humanitarian programs that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance."

CBS News reported that in a private meeting on Wednesday, Rubio told U.S. diplomats in Guatemala that the United States plans to continue distributing foreign aid but the government needs to be able to defend what initiatives it is funding abroad.

"The United States is not walking away from foreign aid. It's not. We're going to continue to provide foreign aid and to be involved in programs, but it has to be programs that we can defend," Rubio also said to a gathering of staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, according to a partial transcript obtained by CBS News on Wednesday.

"It has to be programs that we can explain. It has to be programs that we can justify. Otherwise, we do endanger foreign aid," he added.

During a press conference last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt listed some of the initiatives funded by USAID, which she called "insane priorities." The list included $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workforce, $70,000 for a "DEI musical" in Ireland, $47,000 for a "transgender opera" in Colombia, and $32,000 for a "transgender comic book" in Peru.

A White House fact sheet also lists $2 million to fund "sex changes" and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala, as well as an undesignated amount of funding for the production of 3D-printed contraceptives.

"I don't know about you but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap, and I know the American people don't either," Leavitt added.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), along with Catholic Relief Services, the USCCB's charitable arm, has spoken out against the foreign funding freeze, releasing an action alert urging Catholics to contact their elected officials.

"Your help is urgently needed! Let your members of Congress know that you are deeply concerned about the administration's recent decision to stop work on almost all U.S. foreign assistance programs," the alert read, continuing: "This freeze will be detrimental to millions of our sisters and brothers who need access to lifesaving humanitarian, health, and development assistance."

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banned biological men from competing in women's sports on Thursday, Feb. 6, to comply with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump the previous day.

A new NCAA policy that went into effect on Thursday afternoon states that biological men are no longer eligible to compete on women's college athletic teams under any circumstance. The NCAA is the largest college athletic association and governs the athletic policies for the highest levels of college sports.

"We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today's student athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions," NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.

"To that end, President Trump's order provides a clear, national standard," Baker said.

The rule affects more than 1,000 colleges and universities that enroll more than half a million student athletes.

The NCAA's policy change reverses its previous standards, which had allowed biological men who self-identified as transgender to participate in women's sports if they brought down their testosterone levels by taking testosterone suppressants. The NCAA first permitted biological men to compete in women's sports three years ago, in February 2022. 

Under the previous rules, each sport had a maximum testosterone level for a biological man to be eligible to compete in a women's athletic competition.

Under Trump's Feb. 5 executive order, K–12 schools, colleges, and universities that continue to allow biological men to compete in women's sports will lose all federal funding. It also rescinds federal funding for K–12 schools, colleges, and universities that allow biological men to change in women's locker rooms.

Riley Gaines, a former swimmer with the University of Kentucky who was forced to compete against a biological male swimmer, said in a statement that she was "thrilled" about the NCAA policy change.

"While it's unfortunate that it took women losing opportunities, facing exploitation in locker rooms, and suffering injuries for leaders to recognize the importance of single-sex spaces, this is still a victory worth celebrating," said Gaines, who is also an ambassador for the Independent Women's Forum (IWF).

"However, men are still competing on women's collegiate teams across the country," Gaines added. "I hope the NCAA works with the appropriate authorities to urgently remove said male athletes, reinforce Title IX as intended, and ensure women's opportunities are protected."

Sia Liilii, the captain of the University of Nevada-Reno women's volleyball team, said in a statement she is "ecstatic" about the policy change. 

"Women have fought long and hard for equal athletic opportunities," Liilii, who is also an IWF ambassador, added. "By completely removing men from women's sports, we are moving back to the true definition of Title IX. Women are given an opportunity to champion their own sports division and shine on a fair competition floor."

Although biological men who identify as transgender are now ineligible to compete on women's teams, the NCAA policy still allows them to participate in women's practices "and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes who are otherwise eligible for practice" such as medical care during practice.

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday released his message for World Mission Day 2025, encouraging all Catholics to be "missionaries of hope" who actively participate in the Church's evangelizing mission through a "communion of prayer and action."

"I urge all of you, children, young people, adults, and the elderly, to participate actively in the common evangelizing mission of the Church by your witness of life and prayer, by your sacrifices, and by your generosity," the pope shared in his message.

The pope said he chose "Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples" as the motto for the 2025 mission day, which will be observed this year on Oct. 19.

To continue Jesus' "ministry of hope for humanity," the Holy Father said each Catholic must first develop "a mature faith in Christ" that is nourished by prayer.

"Missionaries of hope are men and women of prayer, for 'the person who hopes is a person who prays,'" the pope said, quoting Venerable Cardinal François-Xavier Van Thuan. "Let us not forget that prayer is the primary missionary activity."

The Eucharist and the other sacraments, the Holy Father explained, are essential for Catholics to "draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit" to work with determination and patience in the "vast field of global evangelization."

"In following Christ the Lord, Christians are called to hand on the good news by sharing the concrete life situations of those whom they meet and thus to be bearers and builders of hope," the pope said. 

"Indeed, 'the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts' (Gaudium et Spes, 1)," he continued.

'Missionaries of hope among all peoples'

In order to be builders of hope in both advanced and developing nations, the 88-year-old pontiff said the Church must recognize that Jesus Christ, the "divine Missionary of hope," wants to speak to the heart of every man and woman and offer them salvation through his followers.  

"Christian communities can be harbingers of a new humanity in a world that, in the most 'developed' areas, shows serious symptoms of human crisis," he said. "In the most technologically advanced nations, 'proximity' is disappearing: We are all interconnected but not related."

In his message, the Holy Father decried how obsession with efficiency, materialism, ambition, and self-centeredness has created a culture of loneliness and indifference in wealthy nations. 

Expressing his special love for the poor, the pope said the Church's missionaries must give particular attention to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.

"Often they are the ones who teach us how to live in hope," the Holy Father said. "Through personal contact, we will also convey the love of the compassionate heart of the Lord."

Referring to his papal bull for the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, Spes Non Confundit, the pope said Christians can be "signs of hope" through works of mercy such as visits to the poor, elderly, sick, and migrants.

'Missionaries ad gentes'

The Holy Father also shared his particular gratitude for the work of Pontifical Mission Societies who "have gone forth to other nations to make known the love of God in Christ" and built new churches. 

"I thank you most heartily! Your lives are a clear response to the command of the risen Christ, who sent his disciples to evangelize all peoples (cf. Mt 28:18-20)," the pope said. 

"In this way, you are signs of the universal vocation of the baptized to become, by the power of the Spirit and daily effort, missionaries among all peoples, and witnesses to the great hope given us by the Lord Jesus," he added.

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday encouraged midwives and OB-GYNs to carry out their mission not only with professional skill but also with "a great sense of humanity."

The pope's words were conveyed in a written speech handed out during an audience with an association of midwives and OB-GYNs from the southern Italian region of Calabria on Feb. 6.

With Francis suffering from bronchitis, the pontiff's meetings on Thursday were held in halls at his Santa Marta residence rather than at the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican Press Office said Feb. 6 Francis would continue to hold his meetings at the Casa Santa Marta on Feb. 7 and 8 due to the illness.

"At a crucial moment of existence such as the birth of a son or daughter, one may feel vulnerable, fragile, and therefore most in need of closeness, tenderness, and warmth," the pope said to the group of midwives and OB-GYNs.

"It does so much good, in such circumstances, to have sensitive and delicate people beside you. I therefore recommend you to cultivate, in addition to professional skill, a great sense of humanity, which confirms 'in the parents' souls the desire and joy for the new life, blossomed from their love' (St. John Paul II, Address to Midwives, Jan. 26, 1980) and contributes to 'assuring the child a healthy and happy birth.'"

The pope noted the loss of enthusiasm for parenthood in Italy and in other countries, where motherhood and fatherhood are no longer seen as "the opening of a new horizon of creativity and happiness."

He also urged Christian midwives and doctors to use the "hidden but effective medicine" of prayer in their practices.

Whether it is appropriate to pray directly with patients or to offer a silent prayer in one's own heart, prayer can "help strengthen that 'admirable collaboration of parents, nature, and God, from which a new human being in the image and likeness of the Creator comes into being,'" he said, quoting Venerable Pius XII in a 1951 address to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives.

"I encourage you to feel toward the mothers, fathers, and children whom God puts in your path the responsibility to pray for them as well, especially in holy Mass, Eucharistic adoration, and simple, daily prayer," Pope Francis said.

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Vatican City, Feb 6, 2025 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis will hold the next few days of meetings in rooms at his Vatican residence while sick with bronchitis, the Vatican said Thursday.

"Due to bronchitis, from which he is suffering at this time, and in order to continue his activities, on Friday, Feb. 7, and Saturday, Feb. 8, Pope Francis' audiences will be held at Casa Santa Marta," the Feb. 6 message from the Holy See Press Office said.

The 88-year-old Francis' meetings with an association of Italian midwives and with Eastern Orthodox priests and monks on Feb. 6 were also held at his Santa Marta home instead of the Apostolic Palace as planned. The pope also did not read aloud his prepared speeches for those audiences.

Due to the light illness, the day prior, the pope had an aide to read his catechesis at his weekly public audience in the Paul VI Hall.

On Sunday, Feb. 9, the pontiff is scheduled to preside over a Mass in St. Peter's Square for the second special weekend of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope: the Jubilee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Security Personnel.

Pope Francis also kept his schedule while remaining indoors when he had a cold right before Christmas. His Angelus prayer and message on Dec. 22, 2024, were livestreamed from the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

The pope, who has been suffering from visible breathlessness during recent meetings, has more and more frequently declined to read his prepared remarks to audiences or opted to have the remarks read by a priest aide.

He has faced several health challenges in recent years, including knee problems requiring a wheelchair, respiratory infections, and a fall resulting in a forearm contusion.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 6, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a new Department of Justice task force dedicated to fighting anti-Christian bias.

During remarks delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning, Trump said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi would head the task force to "eradicate anti-Christian bias" and halt "all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government."

According to Trump, Bondi and the commission will "fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and ... move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide."

"While I'm in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares," he said. "And we will bring our country back together as one nation under God."

Trump further announced that he plans to establish a new presidential commission on religious liberty as well as a White House faith office to be led by televangelist Rev. Paula White, his longtime adviser on religion. 

Also present at the event were several families of Israeli hostages who were taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. Trump addressed them, saying: "We are joined today by several brave families whose loved ones were taken hostage during the horrible Oct. 7 attack. We are keeping you in our hearts and our prayers. As president, I will not rest until every last hostage is returned."  

Noa Argamani, a former hostage who was freed during a raid by Israeli forces over the summer, was also present at the event. Trump called her survival "unbelievable," attributing her freedom to "the grace of God." 

"Innocent civilians [that were] attacked on Oct. 7 were targeted for one reason: because they were Jews," Trump continued. "They were murdered and kidnapped because of their faith, and these events remind us of how blessed we are to live in a nation that has thrived for two and a half centuries as a haven of religious freedom."

The bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast has been split into two events since 2023 when a dispute between lawmakers and the event's coordinators led to the establishment of a separate smaller event on Capitol Hill that is mostly attended by members of Congress and other government officials. 

Trump attended the Capitol Hill breakfast in addition to the main event, which was hosted at the Washington Hilton.

"I really believe you can't be happy without religion, without that belief," Trump told lawmakers during his remarks on Capitol Hill, stating: "Let's bring religion back, let's bring God back into our lives."

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CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Miami and St. Thomas University (STU) in Florida have collaborated on a unique program designed to train handpicked teachers, creating a "bench of new leaders" for Catholic education in the archdiocese. 

Jim Rigg, the superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Miami, developed the two-year, cohort-based master's program in partnership with David Armstrong, the president of St. Thomas University, the archdiocesan university in Miami. 

"Given the critical importance of leadership, the STU program is helping to build our 'bench' of new leaders," Rigg told CNA. "As principal and other administrative positions open up in future years, we will have a ready group of leaders who have been formed through a local program focused specifically on Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Miami."

The archdiocese supports 65 schools serving more than 36,000 students, according to its website. Florida's school choice program has made private school increasingly accessible to Floridians, making strong Catholic leadership all the more essential. 

The master's program is a fusion of St. Thomas University's educational master's program with courses exclusively targeted toward mission and ministry. Students involved in the Catholic Educational Leadership Cohort — most of them handpicked by Rigg — receive scholarships to attend the program from STU and the archdiocese. 

"We came together to integrate the best of our respective organizations," Rigg said. "We took the existing master's in educational leadership program at STU and 'baptized' it, infusing each course with Catholic-focused content."  

The select group of teachers obtains their master's degrees with a partial scholarship from STU and another from the archdiocese, while they pay for a third of it themselves. In return, participants pledge to continue working in the archdiocese for a minimum three-year period after graduation.

The program includes "two entirely new courses focused exclusively on the mission and ministry of Catholic education," Rigg said. Instructors include both STU professors and practitioners of Catholic education in the archdiocese.

Armstrong said the program is also infused with the ethical leadership program he established at STU.

"This program not only took advantage of our academic educational leadership program that we had — organizational leadership also — we've infused the ethical leadership component, which is in direct connection to our theology program," Armstrong explained. "All these things [are] working together to create this program to help the archdiocese develop its future leaders in its faith-based schools."

STU Provost Michelle Johnson-Garcia told CNA that the synergy is what makes the program unique and efficient. 

"We had a combination of our St. Thomas University faculty and some of the archdiocesan folks coming in as our faculty teaching in the program," Johnson-Garcia told CNA. "So, they got the industry folks and the industry views, people in the classroom already doing it alongside our current faculty, which made it pretty unique and dynamic."  

"What we look at when we're building our programs is where there's synergies in other programs that we can cross-collate courses," she said. "That's how we become more effective and more efficient at building our programs." 

Rigg has noticed a need for strong Catholic leaders in the archdiocese. 

"Numerous studies have affirmed that the most important factor in determining the success of a Catholic school is the quality of the leadership," Rigg said. "In my office, the Office of Catholic Schools, we are necessarily fixated on how we identify, recruit, onboard, and continuously develop the men and women who lead our schools." 

"We feel that, if we have an effective leader in place, a Catholic school can realize its full potential to provide excellence in faith formation and academics," Rigg said.

A growing program

The program has kicked off strong, with its first cohort graduating in December 2024. The second cohort began shortly after, beginning classes in early January. 

"The unique nature of this program emerged from its true partnership," Rigg said. "I am not aware of a Catholic university and a diocese partnering as coequal partners to create such a program from scratch. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive!"

More than 40 candidates applied to the first cohort, and 14 were accepted, while the second cohort had more than 80 candidates interested, with 11 selected for the program, according to Rigg. 

Recent graduates are already in leadership roles in the area, Armstrong noted.

"They are creating that bench, as the provost said, of future leaders, and some of them have already been placed in leadership roles and assistant principalships and principalships," Armstrong said. "So it's working."

Armstrong said he ultimately hopes to grow the program to support other archdiocesan leadership.

"One of the things that we need to talk about with our team is now that we've done it with our own archdiocese, how can we expand this to other dioceses around the state of Florida, then South Florida, then the state of Florida, and then our region in the country?" Armstrong said. "Because we believe this is a model that can definitely expand."

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Washington D.C., Feb 6, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Various religious freedom advocates flagged fresh indicators of persecution against Christians who live out their faith in Western liberal democracies during a breakout session of the 2025 International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C., this week.

"People being arrested because of their faith and living out their faith is coming at odds with an increasingly secular and progressive [society]," said Alliance Defending Freedom International Legal Counsel Sean Nelson, who moderated the Feb. 4 panel.

Nelson was joined on stage by Todd Huizinga, a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute focused on Europe; Janet Buckingham, the director of global advocacy at the World Evangelical Alliance; and Rabbi Emile Ackermann, a co-founder of Ayeka, the first Modern Orthodox Jewish community in France.

Nelson showed a brief five-minute clip that detailed stories of Christians facing persecution for speaking about or practicing their religious faith in Finland, the United Kingdom, and Malta — but panelists noted that the trend is widespread throughout Europe and North America.

The video referenced the hate speech charges brought against the former member of Finnish Parliament Päivi Räsänen for defending Christian teachings about homosexuality, which is now in the country's Supreme Court. It also discussed Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who was arrested twice for praying silently outside of an abortion clinic in England, and Matthew Grech, who is facing charges in Malta for sharing his testimony about overcoming homosexual temptations and actions.

Huizinga said during the panel discussion that Christians in Western countries "face diametric disagreement … about many fundamental questions that societies must contend with" regarding social views in the highly secularized cultures that were once predominantly Christian.

One issue that has frequently caused tension between Christians and these governments, he noted, has been human sexuality because the belief that a family is built on the "exclusive union of one man and one woman" clashes with the concepts that "gender is fluid" and "sexuality is a human choice."

The "misuse" of anti-discrimination laws in these nations, according to Huizinga, is "subjecting [Christians] to the threat of legal penalties for the full and free exercise of their faith."

"The cases are too many to name," he said.

Buckingham, a practicing lawyer in Canada, noted that the constitution in Canada guarantees a right to freedom of religion — but that courts have a mixed record on protecting religious liberty.

"It's all about interpretation [of the law]," she said.

In Canada, Buckingham argued that courts often uphold an individual's freedom of religion but that "collective" or "institutional" religious liberty has received fewer protections. As an example, she pointed to the Archdiocese of Montreal suing the government of Quebec for forcing its hospitals to provide euthanasia in a case that's still ongoing.

"I'm concerned about the lack of robust protection [for collective and institutional religious beliefs]," Buckingham added.

Ackermann emphasized a need to differentiate between disagreement and discrimination. 

He referenced debates in France about Islam, arguing that a "critic of the religion of Islam" is not necessarily acting in a discriminatory way. However, he said that some secular "extremists" view "any display of religious [faith as indicating that person is] on the path of becoming a dangerous fundamentalist who wants to force their religion on others."

Pope Francis, earlier in his papacy, referred to the discrimination against Christians in the West as a form of "polite persecution," which is "disguised as culture, disguised as modernity, disguised as progress."

"[Polite persecution is] when someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ's name but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God," the pontiff said in 2016.

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CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

An Indiana appeals court this week affirmed a prior ruling dismissing a professor's defamation lawsuit against an independent student newspaper at the University of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame sociology professor Tamara Kay in 2023 sued the Irish Rover over reports that depicted her as supportive of expanding access to abortion, with Kay arguing the paper's reporting misrepresented her views.

Kay filed the lawsuit over two articles that reported on the professor's alleged pro-abortion activism, including her alleged efforts, documented by the Rover, to help students obtain both emergency contraception and abortifacients.

In part, Kay argued that a sign she placed on her office door proclaiming it to be a "SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL health care issues and access" was related to "student sexual assaults" and "did not pertain to abortion" as the Rover claimed.

The Rover, in response to Kay's lawsuit, lodged an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) filing, a motion meant to prevent the use of courts and potential litigation to intimidate people exercising their First Amendment rights.

On Jan. 24, 2024, Judge Steven David of the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed the case under Indiana's anti-SLAPP law, ruling that Kay's defamation claim "fails as a matter of law."

The "alleged defamatory statements were true, within the meaning of the law, not made with actual malice, did not contain a defamatory inference, and there were no damages that were causally linked to the Irish Rover articles," David wrote in the ruling, concluding that "the statements in the articles were lawful." Kay filed an appeal in February 2024. 

The appellate court decision, handed down on Jan. 30 by Judge Paul D. Mathias, states that the trial court "properly dismissed Dr. Kay's complaint under Indiana's anti-SLAPP statute."

As evidence, Mathias said the Irish Rover submitted copies of the social media posts it referenced or quoted in its article, a transcript from a panel event on abortion bans Kay spoke at, as well as "articles published in 2022 and 2023 by (or co-authored by) Dr. Kay addressing access to abortion, and the burdens and negative effects of abortion bans."

Mathias ruled also that it was reasonable for the Irish Rover's reporters to conclude that Kay's office door sign was addressing access to abortion and that she was offering assistance to students who needed information about procuring an abortion.

"The designated evidence established that, when the Irish Rover published the articles, the authors of those articles believed that the statements and opinions expressed in it were fair and reasonable and that, in writing the articles, the Irish Rover based its information on reliable sources, particularly as the source for most of the information was gleaned from Dr. Kay's own statements, her social media, and publications," Mathias wrote.

The Irish Rover acted in "good faith," Mathias ruled, in part because the paper's stated mission is to articulate and defend the Catholic character of the University of Notre Dame, and publishing articles about a faculty member whose views on abortion appeared contrary to the university's position aligned with this mission. There was no evidence the newspaper asked the university to terminate Kay's employment or encourage others to do so, he noted.

"The designated evidence established as a matter of law that the Irish Rover acted in good faith and in reasonable basis in law and fact," Mathias wrote.

CNA attempted to email Kay for comment last year and again on Wednesday but received an automated notification that her Notre Dame mailbox was full.

Joseph DeReuil, who wrote one of the stories named in the suit, told CNA in 2023 that he was "not at all worried about the result of the lawsuit."

"The Rover's reporting simply brought her already public advocacy to the attention of the pro-life parts of the Notre Dame community, adding minimal context through her own statements to the Rover," DeReuil said.

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St. Louis, Mo., Feb 5, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of St. Louis this week distanced itself from comments a local pastor made in opposition to proposed legislation that would extend the state's ban on transgender procedures for minors.

Missouri bans the provision of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors for purposes of "gender transitions." The law took effect last summer and was subsequently upheld in court in the fall, but the law is currently due to expire in August 2027. Missouri lawmakers, amid a contentious debate, are currently considering bills that if passed would make the law permanent.

Father Mitchell Doyen, pastor at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in north St. Louis City, testified during a Missouri House committee hearing Feb. 3 that the "bills which you contemplate today are dehumanizing our brothers and sisters."

"I have had the privilege of knowing and befriending transgender youth and adults and their parents and their friends and their brothers and sisters. I have listened to their stories and the stories of their doctors and their counselors. Their desire to live fully human, authentic, grace-filled and gifted lives in our community is a profound blessing for us," Doyen said.

"I believe in a loving God who has fashioned each human person as a unique reflection of God's love in the world. I am not afraid to imagine a world more profound than male and female. And I trust the parents, the families, the doctors, the counselors — all who love our trangender youth — to make these decisions more than [I trust] you."

In a statement shared with CNA Wednesday, the Archdiocese of St. Louis said Doyen "was speaking on his own behalf, and his comments did not accurately reflect Church teaching."

The Catholic Church teaches that the human person is an intrinsic unity of body and soul, and that the body is a gift to be received, respected, and cared for. The U.S. bishops reiterated in 2023 that surgical or chemical interventions that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of the body into those of the opposite sex represent a rejection of the "fundamental order of the human body" as being "sexually differentiated."

"The Catholic Church consistently reaffirms the compassion and inherent dignity of all men and women, including those who experience gender dysphoria. We do not discriminate against anyone based on how they identify or what they believe," the statement from the archdiocese reads. 

"However, our pastoral care and support of individuals who identify as transgender does not mean that we condone chemical treatment or surgical procedures that are designed to alter the appearance of one's gender. The Church has been consistent on this issue, and any suggestion to the contrary is a misrepresentation."

St. Josephine Bakhita Parish, which is historically African American, was formed from a merger of three former parishes that came into effect in October 2023. The parish played a prominent role last summer as an official stop for the National Eucharistic Pilgrimages as part of the National Eucharistic Revival.

'I don't think the Church has anything to say'

Speaking prior to Doyen at the hearing on Monday was Guillermo Villa Trueba, a lobbyist with the Missouri Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops. He said the Church supports the bills because they would continue to protect minors from procedures that "based on a false understanding of human nature" are designed to attempt to change a child's sex. 

Minors are not capable of giving true informed consent to procedures that can lead to infertility and lifelong dependence on transgender medications, Villa Trueba noted, quoting Pope Francis in Laudato Si' on the importance of "learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning."

"Young people struggling with gender dysphoria are loved by God and possess the same inherent dignity that all persons do. They deserve help that heals rather than harms. Using puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones for the purpose of gender transition can and will only inflict harm and cause suffering," Villa Trueba said. 

During the hearing, Republican State Rep. Brad Christ, a fellow Catholic, probed Doyen about what he described as a "disconnect" between Doyen's testimony and Villa Trueba's. 

"I'm not saying 'change Church teaching.' But I don't think the Church has anything to say about these bills. It's too intimate among the lives of families," Doyen replied.

"[The] Church teaches chastity. [The] Church teaches the dignity of the human person. The Church teaches the value of the sacrament of marriage and the beauty of a love between man and woman that reveals God's love in the world. All of that is true. But why then, because all of that is true, do we have to say that nothing else can be true? It's a lack of imagination, and it's really a failure to trust God's promises to us," the priest continued.

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