Federal court allows Michigan therapists to counsel children claiming to be opposite sex

The Michigan capitol building in Lansing. / Credit: John McLenaghan/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Dec 18, 2025 / 12:36 pm (CNA).Counselors and therapists in Michigan will be allowed to treat children who believe themselves to be the opposite sex, striking down a Michigan law that outlawed such counseling by claiming it constitutes "conversion therapy."The Dec. 17 ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit blocked the Michigan law by stating that it "discriminates based on viewpoint" by forbidding therapists from counseling children that they are their own biological sex rather than the opposite sex.The court noted that the law "expressly" allows therapists to help children commit to a so-called "transition" to the opposite sex. The rule is a "near-certain violation" of the First Amendment, the order said.The Michigan law was passed on the grounds that steering children away from a transgender identity constitutes "conversion" similar to counseling that seeks to mitigate s...

HHS announces actions to restrict 'sex-rejecting procedures' on minors

President Donald J. Trump watches as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary, speaks after being sworn in on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2025 / 13:31 pm (CNA).The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations today that would seek to end "sex-rejecting procedures" on anyone younger than 18 years old, which includes restrictions on hospitals and retailers.Under one proposal, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would withhold all funding through Medicare and Medicaid to any hospital that offers surgeries or drugs to minors as a means to make them resemble the opposite sex. The proposed rules would prohibit federal Medicaid funding for "sex-rejecting procedures" on anyone under 18 and prohibit federal Children's Health Insurance program (CHIP) funding for the procedures on anyone under 19.This includes surgical ...

European Parliament backs abortion fund resolution amid Catholic criticism

The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. / Credit: fotogoocom via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)Vilnius, Lithuania, Dec 18, 2025 / 14:04 pm (CNA).The European Parliament voted Dec. 17 in favor of a resolution supporting the creation of a new European Union fund intended to expand access to abortion services across member states, a move that exposed deep divisions among lawmakers and renewed debate over national sovereignty and abortion legislation in EU policymaking.Members of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg voted 358 in favor, 202 against, with 79 abstentions. The proposal would establish a voluntary, opt-in financial mechanism to assist women who are unable to procure abortions in their home countries and who choose to travel to states with more permissive laws.The initiative was brought forward under the EU's European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) framework by the campaign group My Voice, My Choice, which claims to represent a broad grassroots mobilization of Europea...

Catholic bishops speak out as New York governor pledges to sign into law assisted suicide

Disabilities advocates in Buffalo, New York, during a candlelight vigil in opposition to assisted suicide. / Credit: New York Alliance Against Assisted SuicideCNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:00 pm (CNA).New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign into law an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed, making New York the 13th state to allow the practice. Hochul, who called it an "incredibly difficult decision," said she will sign the bill after lawmakers add some "guardrails." The bill allows doctors to give terminally ill patients drugs to end their lives. Hochul's additions to the law include requiring a waiting period, a recorded oral request for death, and a health evaluation. The law will go into effect six months after signing.    Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and other New York bishops have been outspoken against the legislation, issuing several statements opposing it. In a brief meeting with Hochul over the summer, Dolan urged ...

First painting in Rome of Our Lady of Guadalupe preserved in fourth-century church

This image is preserved in the Church of San Vital, built in 386, in Rome. / Credit: Victoria Cardiel/EWTN NewsRome Newsroom, Dec 17, 2025 / 17:30 pm (CNA).The Church of St. Vitale, built in 386, is the oldest Christian church still standing in the center of Rome. It is the "only place of worship from the fourth century that has remained intact throughout the centuries," emphasized its parish priest, Father Elio Lops.This early Christian church, discreet and given little attention on typical tourist routes, safeguards an artistic and devotional treasure that is practically unknown: the first image of Our Lady of Guadalupe painted in the Italian capital."It has never been given the importance it deserves," Lops told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, referring to a representation of the Virgin Mary that immediately brings to mind the image imprinted on St. Juan Diego's tilma in 1531.The similarities are striking. "There is no doubt about its identity," the parish p...

Pentagon chief announces reforms to U.S. military's Chaplain Corps 

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (at right) is shown here during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (at left) and then National Security Advisor Mike Waltz (at center). / Credit: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 20:05 pm (CNA).U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that he has issued a directive aimed at reforming the military's Chaplain Corps, beginning with the elimination of the U.S. Army's current Spiritual Fitness Guide.In a video post, Hegseth described a "real problem" facing the nation's military forces: "the weakening of our Chaplain corps" that has "been going on for far too long.""In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists. instead of ministers," he said. "Faith and virtue were traded for self help and self care."Hegseth said that "chaplains are intended to be the spiritual and moral backbone of our nation's forces," r...

Catholic bishops speak out as New York governor pledges to pass assisted suicide bill

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, (pictured on Nov. 25, 2025, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan at a Catholic Charities Thanksgiving event to hand out turkeys and other foods), said she will sign a bill legalizing assisted suicide in the Empire State. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Dec 17, 2025 / 16:45 pm (CNA).New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign an assisted suicide bill that Catholic leaders have ardently opposed, making New York the 13th state to allow the practice. Hochul, who called it an "incredibly difficult decision," said she will sign the bill after lawmakers add some "guardrails." The bill allows doctors to give terminally ill patients drugs to end their lives. Hochul's additions to the law include requiring a waiting period, a recorded oral request for death, and a health evaluation. The law will go into effect six months after signing.    Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and other New York bishops have been outspoken against the...

Pope Leo XIV appoints Bishop Ramón Bejarano to lead Monterey Diocese

San Diego Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano celebrates Mass at St. Augustine's School on Dec. 5, 2021, to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe. / Credit: John Gastaldo/Catholic Diocese of San DiegoVatican City, Dec 17, 2025 / 10:18 am (CNA).Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Ramón Bejarano, currently auxiliary bishop of San Diego, as the next bishop of Monterey in California. The appointment was publicized on Dec. 17 by the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican and by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.Bejarano succeeds Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, who led Monterey before being appointed bishop of Austin, Texas, on July 2 and installed there on Sept. 18.Bejarano was born July 17, 1969, in Laredo, Texas, and completed ecclesiastical studies at the diocesan seminary in Tijuana, Mexico, and at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, the Vatican said. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Stockton on Aug. 15, 1998.Named titular bishop of Carpi and auxiliary bishop of Sa...

Miracle of the liquefaction of blood of St. Januarius is repeated in Naples, Italy

St. Januarius (left) and the relic of the blood of St. Januarius. / Credit: Chapel of St. JanuariusACI Prensa Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 12:58 pm (CNA).The miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, patron saint of the Italian city of Naples, occurred again on Tuesday, Dec. 16.According to the Archdiocese of Naples, the miracle took place after Mass in the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius on the feast of the patronage of St. Januarius."At 9:13 a.m. local time, the blood already appeared semi-liquid. At 10:05 a.m., the complete liquefaction was announced," the archdiocese reported."Dec. 16 is the third of three annual celebrations in honor of the martyred saint. This date commemorates the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when the Neapolitans requested and obtained the miraculous intervention of St. Januarius to prevent the lava from engulfing the city," he explained.The announcement of the miracle was made by Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, abbot of th...

Wisconsin loses second bid to block tax exemption in spat with Catholic charity

The Wisconsin Supreme Court building in Madison, Wisconsin. / Credit: Richard Hurd/Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Dec 16, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).The Wisconsin state government lost decisively a second time in what has become a convoluted effort to block a Catholic charity from receiving a long-running state tax exemption.The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Dec. 15 blocked state Attorney General Josh Kaul's attempt to fully eliminate an unemployment tax exemption after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Diocese of Superior's Catholic Charities Bureau was entitled to the tax break.The U.S. Supreme Court in June had ruled that Wisconsin violated the First Amendment when it denied the tax exemption to the Catholic group on the grounds that the group's charitable undertakings were not "primarily" religious.The state responded in October by moving to eliminate the exemption entirely, arguing that the tax break is "discriminatory" and that ending the policy would "avoid collateral damage to...