Overview
- Meeting in Baltimore, bishops approved the seventh edition of the Ethical and Religious Directives that bars surgical, hormonal and genetic interventions intended to alter sexual characteristics at Catholic facilities.
- The measure passed by a reported 206-8 vote with seven abstentions and gives diocesan bishops authority to implement the directives in their local health systems.
- The Catholic Health Association backed the updated language and said Catholic providers will continue to welcome and treat transgender patients with dignity, even as the prohibited interventions will not be offered.
- The policy applies across a network of more than 650 hospitals and about 1,600 other Catholic care sites that collectively treat roughly one in seven U.S. patients, formalizing practices many facilities already followed.
- LGBTQ advocates and several progressive faith leaders criticized the decision, while major medical organizations maintain that gender-affirming care is evidence-based; the vote comes as courts and federal policymakers weigh restrictions affecting access and funding.