Catholic bishops vote to ban gender transition treatment at US hospitals

U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to officially ban gender transition treatments for transgender patients in Catholic hospitals.

The bishops, meeting in the ballroom of a Baltimore hotel, overwhelmingly approved revisions to their guidelines for the country’s thousands of Catholic health care facilities and providers, formalizing a years-long process for the U.S. Church to address transgender treatment options.

Bishops will have the autonomy to transpose the new guidelines into law for their dioceses.

In the United States, more than one in seven patients are treated in Catholic hospitals each day, according to the Catholic Health Association. In some areas, Catholic hospitals are the only medical centers available.

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The Rev. Michael JK Fuller, Archbishop Timothy Broglio and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore lead the plenary assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (PA)

Most Catholic health care facilities do not offer treatment for gender transition, including hormonal, psychological, and surgical treatments.

“When it comes to gender ideology, I think it’s very important that the Church makes a strong statement here,” Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said during public discussion of the revised guidelines.

The Catholic Health Association thanked the bishops for incorporating much of their feedback into the new guidelines.

“Catholic providers will continue to welcome those who seek medical care from us and identify as transgender,” the organization said in a statement. “We will continue to treat these people with dignity and respect, which is consistent with Catholic social teaching and our moral obligation to serve all people, especially those who are marginalized.”

The new guidelines incorporate previous documents on gender identity from the Vatican last year and from U.S. bishops the year before.

In the 2023 doctrinal note titled “Moral Limits on Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” the bishops stated that “Catholic health services should not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, aimed at transforming the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex, nor participate in the development of such procedures.”

But some parishes and priests welcome transgender Catholics, while others are less accepting.

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Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said it was “very important” that the Church make a strong statement on gender identity. (Getty Images)

“Catholic teaching upholds the inestimable dignity of every human life, and for many trans people, gender-affirming care is what makes life livable,” said Michael Sennett, a transgender man active in his Massachusetts parish and board member of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church.

The New Ways Ministry held a meeting last year with the late Pope Francis to discuss gender transition treatment.

The group’s executive director, Francis DeBernardo, said that for many transgender Catholics he spoke with, “the transition process was not just a biological necessity, but a spiritual imperative,” adding, “If they were to live as authentic people in the way they believe God created them, then transition becomes a necessary thing.” »

Also on Wednesday, as U.S. Catholic bishops discussed gender identity, the leaders of several progressive religious denominations issued a statement in support of transgender people.

“At a time of ever-increasing life-threatening risks in our country, there is a shameful misconception that not all people of faith affirm all genders – many of us do. Let it be known instead that our loved ones are created in the image of God – holy and whole,” reads the statement from the 10 signatories, including leaders of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Presbyterian Church (United States).

In addition to the Catholic bishops’ debate on gender identity, they overwhelmingly endorsed a “special message” condemning the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

Catholic leaders have criticized the president’s mass deportation agenda as fear of immigration raids has reduced Mass attendance in some parishes.

The federal government earlier this year reversed a Biden administration directive barring immigration agents from conducting screening operations in sensitive areas such as churches and hospitals.

Most Catholic health care facilities do not offer treatment for gender transition, including hormonal, psychological, and surgical treatments. (Mike Kemp/In images via Getty Images))

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“We are troubled when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around issues of profiling and immigration control,” said the bishops’ statement released Wednesday. “We are saddened by the state of the contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”

Several bishops also rose to speak in favor of the declaration during the final afternoon discussion.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich even recommended stronger language regarding mass deportation, and his fellow bishops agreed.

“That seems to be the central problem that we are facing with our people right now,” he said.

The updated text now affirms that the American Catholic bishops “oppose the mass and indiscriminate deportation of people.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.