Peru's government considers transexualism a mental health problem: what you need to know

null / Credit: Juanje Garrido/ShutterstockACI Prensa Staff, May 17, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).A few days ago, the government of Peru published a supreme decree in which "transsexualism" and "gender identity disorder" are considered "mental health problems," among other points, causing controversy even within agencies of the executive branch. On May 10, the official newspaper El Peruano published supreme decree No. 009-2024-SA, which approves the update of the Essential Health Insurance Plan (PEAS, by its Spanish acronym), a document that details the list of diseases whose treatments are provided in public hospitals.In this regulation, signed by Peru President Dina Boluarte, Minister of Economy and Finance José Berley Arista, and Minister of Health César Henry Vásquez, seven diagnoses considered "mental health" problems are included.The diagnoses are "transsexualism; dual-role transvestism; childhood gender identity disorder; other gender identity disorders; gender identity dis...

Fernández: Vatican's new apparitions guidelines stress 'caution' in discernment process

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presides over a press conference on Friday, May 17, 2024, on the Vatican's new document on Marian apparitions. / Credit: Rudolf Gehrig/EWTN NewsRome Newsroom, May 17, 2024 / 11:03 am (CNA).Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández held a press conference on Friday addressing the Vatican's new guidelines on apparitions, with the prelate noting that the new norms would help introduce greater prudence in the discernment process. "The Church has stated that the faithful are never forced to believe in this phenomenon. They are never obliged. There's no obligation," said Fernández, the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, during the conference at the Holy See Press Office on Friday. "The Church, as a matter of fact, leaves the faithful free to devote their attention to this phenomena or not," he added. "Revelation that has already happened is the word of God. It contains everyth...

Pro-lifers rally in London amid consideration of abortion amendments

Representatives from the pro-life movement and their supporters gather to demonstrate in Parliament Square on May 15, 2024, in London. / Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesCNA Staff, May 17, 2024 / 10:43 am (CNA).A large number of pro-life people rallied May 15 outside the Houses of Parliament in London to protest a set of amendments that if passed would further liberalize the U.K.'s abortion laws, including one that critics say would allow abortions up to the point of birth.As reported by the Catholic Herald, the rally in Westminster was coordinated by a variety of organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom UK, Christian Concern, March for Life, Rachel's Vineyard, and 40 Days for Life. Participants held signs and wore shirts with the phrase "No to abortion up to birth."At issue are a number of proposed amendments to a Criminal Justice Bill under consideration in the U.K. Parliament, one of which would amend U.K. law such that "no woman would be liable for a prison sentence ...

Vatican overturns own decision on seminary dean

Philosophical-Theological University of Bressanone in Italy. / Credit: Ladislav Luppa / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)CNA Newsroom, May 17, 2024 / 10:13 am (CNA).In a significant reversal, the Vatican approved the appointment of a new dean at a seminary in Northern Italy almost one year after first blocking the appointment over the candidate's published views on sexual morality.The Philosophical-Theological College in Bressanone (PTH Brixen) announced "with great joy" that Father Martin M. Lintner, OSM, has now been confirmed as dean and will take office on Sept. 1.The appointment of Lintner, who teaches moral and spiritual theology at the seminary, faced opposition from the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education in mid-2023 over his published works on Catholic sexual morality, particularly his views on same-sex blessings. In an article published in 2020 by New Ways Ministry titled "Theologian Suggests Papal Civil Union Support May Lead to Church Blessings," Lintner is qu...

New norms give Vatican greater say on alleged apparitions

A Marian apparition. / Credit: "The World of Marian Apparitions: Mary's Appearances and Messages from Fatima to Today"Rome Newsroom, May 17, 2024 / 06:53 am (CNA).The Vatican's top doctrinal office is centralizing its authority over the investigation of alleged Marian apparitions and other religious phenomena under new norms it issued Friday, a break from past protocols that gave local bishops greater autonomy in discerning such cases.While emphasizing that "discernment in this area remains the task of the diocesan bishop," the new guidelines state that the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith "must always be consulted and give final approval to what the bishop decides before he announces a determination on an event of alleged supernatural origin." The document spelling out the new procedures, titled "Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena," explains that the doctrinal office previously played a role in the eva...

Italian actor Roberto Benigni to join Pope Francis for World Children's Day

Pope Francis meets with Italian actor Roberto Benigni on Dec. 7, 2022. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 16, 2024 / 11:49 am (CNA).Pope Francis will be joined by Italian actor Roberto Benigni and soccer star Gianluigi Buffon as the pontiff celebrates World Children's Day over the last weekend in May.The Vatican announced on Thursday that World Children's Day will "kick off" on Saturday, May 25, at 3:30 p.m. with a soccer match between kids and professional soccer players in Rome's Olympic Stadium led by Buffon, the goalie who helped Italy achieve victory in the 2006 World Cup.On the second day of the event, Benigni, best known for his Oscar-winning film "Life Is Beautiful," will give a short speech at the end of Pope Francis' Mass and Angelus address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, May 26. World Children's Day is a new initiative by Pope Francis sponsored by the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education in collaboration with the Catholic community of Sant'Egid...

Chiara Corbella's beatification cause to take a step forward in June

Servant of God Chiara Corbella Petrillo. / Credit: Christian Gennari/chiaracorbellapetrillo.itRome Newsroom, May 16, 2024 / 10:08 am (CNA).Servant of God Chiara Corbella Petrillo, the joyful young mother who died of cancer in 2012, will be one step closer next month to being declared a saint.The Diocese of Rome announced Wednesday that it will hold the closing session of the diocesan phase of her cause for beatification on Friday, June 21, at noon in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.Since her death at the age of 28, Corbella has inspired many by her witness to faith and joy amid suffering and loss.Corbella met her husband, Enrico Petrillo, at the age of 18 while on a pilgrimage to Medugorje. They married six years later in Assisi on Sept. 21, 2008. Within the first two years of their marriage, Chiara and Enrico suffered the death of two children, both of whom died less than an hour after birth.Their first child, Maria Grazia Letizia, was diagnosed in utero with anencep...

Thomas Aquinas College goes off the grid with green power plan

Mark Kretschmer, vice president for operations at Thomas Aquinas College (TAC), pictured with Thomas Kaiser, a biologist and researcher, and Lawerence Youngblood, an electrical engineer and director of Brompton Energy. / Credit: Thomas Aquinas CollegeCNA Staff, May 16, 2024 / 15:24 pm (CNA).A sequestered Catholic college in the foothills of California launched an energy program that has nearly eliminated the college's carbon footprint while saving $600,000 a year, giving the school more reliable energy than the state power grid. Thomas Aquinas College (TAC), a campus of more than 500 students, sits northwest of Los Angeles but offers something very different than the bustle and traffic of city life. Sitting on 845 acres, TAC's discussion-based model of education is designed for a small, tight-knit community of students and "tutors," who gather for class around round tables rather than desks."We are in the business of analytical thinking, of asking questions, of learning fr...

Pro-lifers imprisoned under FACE Act speak out

Washington Surgi-Clinic on F St. NW in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2022. / Credit: Katie Yoder/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 16, 2024 / 14:48 pm (CNA).After seven pro-life activists were sentenced to years in prison for a "rescue" attempt at a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic, some of the activists are now speaking out. Joan Andrews Bell, a 76-year-old Catholic and pro-life activist who was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, shared a statement in which she vowed to continue advocating for the unborn and called on others to join her in prayer. "The rougher it gets for us the more we can rejoice that we are succeeding; no longer are we being treated so much as the privileged born, but as the discriminated against conceived child," Bell said in a statement obtained by CNA. "We do not expect justice in the courts. Furthermore, we do not seek it for ourselves when it is being denied [to] our beloved brothers and sisters."She said that she views her p...

Cardinal Pizzaballa visits Gaza in show of support, solidarity with 'suffering population'

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa gives the homily at a Mass in which he took possession of his titular church, St. Onuphrius, in Rome on May 1, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI PrensaRome Newsroom, May 16, 2024 / 13:48 pm (CNA).Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa on Wednesday visited Holy Family Parish in Gaza, with the prelate making the trip for the first time since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in a show of solidarity and support for the small but resilient community.Pizzaballa "entered Gaza and reached the Parish of the Holy Family for a pastoral visit," said a press release issued by the patriarchate on Thursday.Pizzaballa was joined by a small delegation composed of Fra' Alessandro de Franciscis, the grand hospitaller of the Sovereign Order of Malta, as well as Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Holy Family Church. The clergy traveled to meet "the suffering population" and to bring a message of "hope, solidarity, and supp...