The Church of St. Luke

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CNA Staff, May 4, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Dr. Christopher Stroud was a Catholic OB-GYN who prescribed birth control and gave referrals for in vitro fertilization (IVF) until a priest admonished him in the sacrament of reconciliation. Now Stroud runs a life-affirming fertility clinic that uses Natural Procreative Technology — a treatment model that embraces life-affirming Catholic ethics.

“It changed my life,” Stroud said of the confession. “Probably for all eternity, it changed my life.”

Stroud said he still “get[s] emotional” just talking about the impact of the clinic. Couples send him photos of their babies — it has grown into a wall of photos now.

Since his change of heart in 2012, his practice has “just exploded.” The clinic has grown so popular that there’s a six-month wait period.

“We are blessed with a busy, busy practice,” he told CNA.

While Stroud’s clinic is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he received his training in Nebraska at St. Paul VI Institute — an organization founded in 1985 that trains doctors in “NaProTechnology.”

And the demand for NaProTechnology? It’s “unlimited,” Stroud said.

What makes NaPro different? 

NaProTechnology is “a problem-based approach to fertility challenges,” Stroud explained.

The model is “a recognition, more than anything, that infertility is a symptom — it’s not a diagnosis,” Stroud explained.

Rather than jumping to IVF — which is often expensive, arduous, and carries ethical issues with the creation of unused embryos — NaProTechnology applies basic principals of contemporary medicine to fertility treatment.

“Everywhere else in contemporary medicine, we use symptoms to point to a disease state, and then we treat the disease state; then we ask, did the symptom go away?” Stroud said.

But with the advent of IVF in the late 1970s, doctors were taught to promptly refer clients for IVF, Stroud explained.

NaProTechnology is highly effective, Stroud has found. Fertility specialists can address the underlying health issues preventing conception “more times than not,” he said.

Teresa Hilgers, an OB-GYN at the St. Paul VI Institute, added that NaProTechnology often brings a couple’s fertility “back to life.” She said she has seen “so many” couples who, with the help of NaProTechnology, “no longer need medical support to achieve future pregnancies.”

Talking about IVF 

Stroud emphasized that while IVF is against Church teaching, IVF is a challenging issue to talk about. It’s important to acknowledge that the children created through IVF are created in God’s image, Stroud said.

“Any time we have a chance to say [it], we must say that the children created by IVF are children of God — created in his image and likeness,” Stroud said.

“We’ve got to remember that as Catholics, we’re not condemning, we’re educating,” Stroud continued. “And the people that we’re talking to often are very, very wounded and vulnerable.”

When discussing IVF, Stroud noted that “we’ve got to remember the vulnerable, horrible pain that couples are experiencing.”

“I can’t think of another marital stress that could ever hold a candle to infertility because it forces couples to question what it means to be man and woman, what it means to be married, what it means to be intimate,” Stroud said.

“But children are a gift. They’re not a right,” Stroud said. “If they were a right, they’d be property, which is part of the problem with IVF — they do become property.”

The Catholic perspective

IVF is contrary to the Catholic Church’s teaching. But why?

There are several layers to understanding the Church’s teaching on IVF. Most obviously, there’s the high cost of life in IVF.

“IVF is very destructive,” Hilgers said. “Many babies are lost to create one new life.”

The remaining human embryos conceived via IVF often remain in frozen storage for an indeterminate amount of time — often never to grow up.

“[Couples] may have finished their fertility journey, but they do not know what to do with their remaining frozen embryos,” Hilgers said.

IVF also contradicts the Church’s understanding of the purpose of sexual intercourse within the union of marriage.

“The Church teaches that the act of sexual intercourse has two aspects: procreative and unitive. These are inseparable,” Hilgers said. “IVF separates the procreative and unitive acts of intercourse between a married couple.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 2377) states that IVF is “morally unacceptable” because it separates the marriage act from procreation and establishes “the domination of technology” over human life.

But there’s also a biological and medical argument against IVF, both Hilgers and Stroud noted.

“Many do not realize that IVF is not good medicine,” Hilgers said.

“The success rates are lower than most think,” she said. “A lot of couples go through IVF and fail.”

IVF can bring with it additional risks, including higher complication rates with pregnancy, higher preterm labor, and even higher risk for birth defects, Hilgers added. 

When Stroud meets with patients who are considering IVF, he begins by asking them: “Why?” 

“The thing that I say to the couple is: Wouldn’t you like to know why you’re not getting pregnant — even if it means you’re never going to be pregnant — wouldn’t you like to know?” he said. “I’ve never had a couple say, ‘Actually, no, we don’t care.’” 

For couples with infertility

Both Hilgers and Stroud emphasized that IVF is far from the only option for couples struggling with infertility.

When asked what he would say to couples struggling with infertility, Stroud said: “Don’t settle.” 

“You don’t have to settle as a couple, and you don’t have to choose between the tenets of your faith and your fertility,” Stroud said. “Unexplained infertility is, more times than not, uninvestigated infertility.”

“Many couples who undergo IVF are never given a diagnosis for why they have infertility,” Hilgers added. “They are often told that their infertility is ‘unexplained.’”

But “their infertility is unexplained because a proper evaluation was never done,” Hilgers said.

When asked about the impact of NaProTechnology on families, Hilgers said that by respecting Church teaching on love and life, the human dignity of all involved is also respected.

“When these teachings are respected, then the dignity of everyone involved, the woman, her husband, and children are respected,” she said.

ROME (CNS) -- An AI-generated image of U.S. President Donald Trump dressed as the pope "was not good," Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York said in Rome.

"I hope he didn't have anything to do with that," he told reporters before he entered Our Lady of Guadalupe Church where he celebrated Mass May 4.

The picture, featuring Trump wearing a white cassock and miter traditionally worn by a pope, was first shared on the president's @realDonaldTrump account on TruthSocial.com and then shared by official White House social media accounts May 3. Trump had also told a reporter April 29, "I'd like to be pope."

Cardinal Dolan was asked if he was offended by the image. "Well, you know, it wasn't good. The Italians say, 'brutta figura,'" he said, meaning, it made a "bad impression."

The cardinal was celebrating Mass at his "titular" parish. When prelates are made cardinals, they are assigned a "titular" church in Rome, which makes them members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome.

The small church in the hilltop district of Monte Mario was full of parishioners, visitors and the press.

Msgr. Gianfranco Mammoli, the parish priest, thanked the cardinal for his visit and noted the importance of the day's Gospel reading (John 21:1-19) as the world's cardinals were gathered in Rome to choose the next pope. 

Jesus did not give Simon Peter clear directions on how to build or lead his church after his death and resurrection, Msgr. Mammoli said in his introductory remarks. All that Jesus said, was "Do you love me?"

In a few days, Cardinal Dolan and others will have the task of choosing the successor of Peter -- the leader of the universal church and the bishop of Rome, the monsignor said.

"Someone will be chosen, not because he is prepared," but because he loves Jesus with all his heart and will answer his call to follow Jesus and feed his sheep, he said.

In his homily, given in Italian, Cardinal Dolan asked everyone to pray for him and all the cardinals as they prepare to begin the conclave May 7 to choose the next pope. "I need the light of the Holy Spirit."

The cardinal focused his homily on the Gospel reading and how Jesus gathers his disciples to share a meal.

Every Sunday Mass is the people of God -- the Lord's disciples -- coming together to share a meal with the Lord, he said. It is a spiritual "meal" shared as a family with the Holy Mother Church.

Remarking that "Pope Francis loved to say and often would say to us priests" to keep homilies short, the cardinal said, "OK, that's it!" keeping his talk to under five minutes.

As the congregation laughed, Cardinal Dolan asked if their priest keeps his homilies brief, to which they said, "Yes!"

The cardinal processed to the back of the church and stood outside the front door so he could greet and chat with all the parishioners as they filed out. He answered questions, reminded people to pray for him, posed for selfies and invited people to come to New York City and visit him at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Meeting again with reporters after the Mass, he emphasized the importance of prayer, saying Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, told the cardinals to "make sure you ask the people to pray for us because we need it very, very much."

He said the cardinals are "still getting to know one another," and it helps that this is his second conclave.

When he participated as a 63-year-old, recently-elevated cardinal in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, he said he was "so nervous" and wasn't sure what to do.

"But now I feel kind of seasoned, a little more relaxed," he said.

"Will there be a Francis II," he was asked. "Let's hope so" because it is needed, he said.

When asked what characteristics he would like to see in the next pope, he said it was important the pope always smile and be simple, humble and good.

It would be nice to blend all the best characteristics of the last three popes, he said, including Pope Benedict XVI's "intense intellect" and St. John Paul II's "courage and his call to follow Jesus."

"I'm praying to St. Anthony" to find the one, he said.

Asked if he had already made a choice, he said he still had to think about it.

"But you only have two more days," a reporter said.

"That will be enough, don't you think?" he replied.
 

ROME (CNS) -- As Catholics in Rome await the election of their new bishop, the pope, some of them celebrated Sunday Mass at their parishes with the cardinals who will enter a conclave May 7.

When prelates are made cardinals, they are assigned a "titular" parish in Rome, which makes them members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. In the early days of the church, the clergy of the diocese elected the pope.

Several cardinals chose to celebrate Mass at their titular churches May 4, the last Sunday before they enter the Sistine Chapel to begin voting for a new pope.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, was at St. Mary of the Graces Church where it was first Communion Sunday. There were prayers for the late Pope Francis, for Cardinal Tobin and for the new pope, but the focus was solidly on the children. 

The cardinal and his priest secretary arrived at the parish by subway. Wearing a clerical suit with his pectoral cross tucked in his pocket, no one recognized him, he said.

Outside the church, journalists did know who he was and asked him how the pre-conclave meetings were going. "There is a growing consensus about the qualities needed for the next Holy Father, but not names. A lot depends on the Holy Spirit."

Still, he was predicting a fairly short conclave "because the majority of cardinals, including me, are diocesan bishops and we need to get back."

Cardinal Tobin said there is a desire "to have continuity" with the papacy of Pope Francis, but not an "exact" replica. "There is no going back," he added.

Father Antonio Fois, the pastor, welcomed Cardinal Tobin "home" to his Rome parish. "In a few days, you and your brother cardinals will elect the new bishop of Rome. And we pray for you and with you that you will choose a pastor with the heart of Jesus."

In his homily, Cardinal Tobin focused mainly on his "little brothers and sisters" who were about to receive Communion for the first time, and he prayed that their encounter with the risen Lord, who gives himself in the Eucharist, would lead them, like St. Peter in the day's Gospel, to respond, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."

Cardinal Tobin told the children that he was the eldest of 13 children and every day after school he and his friends would be playing ball in the street. "At a certain point, mom would come to the door with good news: 'Dinner's ready.'" 

It was good news, he said, "not only because we were hungry," but thinking about it more deeply, it also meant that it was time to gather around the table as a family. "It was a big table with a lot of people around it and a lot of noise, but we were a family."

Jesus gathered his disciples and gathers believers today around a table, the cardinal said, "not only to nourish us but to show us that God wants to be with us, God wants to remain with us, God wants us to leave behind despair and discover the joy of being a family."

In the announcements before Mass ended, Father Fois asked parishioners to join a special recitation of the rosary and Mass at noon May 8, the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii.

During the services the day after the conclave begins, he said, "We will pray in thanksgiving for the new pope or pray that they will give us a good bishop of Rome soon."
 

null / Credit: PUWADON SANG/Shutterstock

Seattle, Wash., May 3, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Texas on Saturday officially enacted one of the largest school choice programs in its history, with Gov. Greg Abbott signing the measure into law on Saturday afternoon as Catholic educators turn their attention to the ground-level work of growth and planning amid the new choice regime. 

The program’s $1 billion education savings account (ESA) program has led many to expect a noticeable shift in how — and for whom — Catholic education becomes financially accessible.

Catholic schools across the state are beginning to prepare for what may be a surge in applications. “Our Catholic schools in Texas are actively working to ensure capacity to add about 20,000 students when the ESA program opens in the 2026–2027 school year,” Jennifer Allmon, the executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, told CNA.

Under the new law, qualifying families will receive up to $10,000 per student to cover educational expenses such as private school tuition, transportation, and other services. 

Initially, the program will serve up to 90,000 students with potential for expansion. It also prioritizes low-income students and those with disabilities, two groups Catholic schools already serve extensively.

At Frassati Catholic High School in north Houston, where enrollment has grown significantly in recent years, Director of Enrollment Tim Lienhard sees this moment as a test of both the school’s mission and its infrastructure.

“We really are looking at this as a way to test what we’ve built,” Lienhard said. “We’re the only Catholic high school supporting families north of Houston’s Beltway 8, and we’ve already been growing steadily.”

Frassati opened in 2013 and expects its ninth graduating class this spring. Over the last four years, the school has refined its admissions process to focus on applicants who are genuinely seeking a Catholic environment. Lienhard emphasized that any future expansion won’t be for scale alone.

“We’ve developed a selection process based on our mission,” he said. “That means evaluating prospective students and families on their desire for our culture and identity. Growth only works if it flows from that.”

For the Texas bishops, Senate Bill 2 is the result of long-standing advocacy. Allmon, who has served the conference for two decades, described the new law as a breakthrough.

“This is a historic development,” she said. “All of the bishops of Texas are excited and ready to welcome new students and for some of our current students to get some financial relief with ESA.”

There are 66 Catholic high schools serving approximately 24,000 students in Texas. The average tuition is about $14,000, pricing out many working families. The ESA program could change that for a large segment of the population.

“We believe that parents who previously did not think they could afford Catholic school will be excited to have this option available,” Allmon said.

From a national perspective, the legislation is being hailed as a significant milestone.

“This is a historic victory for Texas families and the future of our nation. Revitalizing the Republic starts in the classroom,” Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, said this week.

“Texas has created the largest Day 1 school choice program in the nation. ... This policy change isn’t just a win for Texas — it’s a win for every student, every parent, and every taxpayer who believes in the principle that education should be about serving the needs of kids, not entrenched systems,” Roberts said.

Not every element of the law was welcomed by Catholic leaders. A provision in the bill excludes undocumented students from participating in the ESA program — something the bishops oppose.

“We welcome students in our Catholic schools, regardless of immigration status, out of respect for the rights and dignity given by our Creator to each human person,” Allmon said. “While we may oppose such decisions, we still support the underlying public benefit programs.”

State lawmakers passed House Bill 2 alongside SB 2, boosting overall public school funding.

“HB 2 provides an increase in funding for public schools targeted toward special-needs programs, teacher pay raises, fine arts, and gifted and talented programs,” she explained. 

Critics, however, contend that the program will divert funds from public schools and primarily benefit families already able to afford private education. But “with more than $80 billion going to public education, it’s hard to see how a $1 billion ESA program serving about 80,000 students would do harm,” Allmon said.

Ryan Walker, the executive vice president of Heritage Action for America, called the bill part of a broader national shift.

“For too long, our education system has failed families across the country… Today, we are witnessing a wave of states adopting school choice policies, handing authority back to parents and increasing opportunities for students.”

Lindsey Burke and Jason Bedrick of Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy said this was more than a milestone. 

“It’s a tipping point. America is rapidly moving away from the district school model and toward an education system that empowers families to choose the learning environments that align with their values and work best for their children.”

For Lienhard, who oversees enrollment, marketing, and communications at Frassati, the conversations with families are ongoing — but still marked by uncertainty.

“Most families don’t yet know what they’ll qualify for,” he said. “There’s not a lot of clarity about how this will work, so people are waiting to see what the rollout looks like.”

Despite that ambiguity, there’s no lack of optimism at Frassati. The school is in the midst of a capital campaign to build a 20,000-square-foot academic facility. Its growth has been steady, and Lienhard attributes that not to programs or prestige but to something deeper.

“Our No. 1 asset is our Catholic identity,” he said. “We’re not growing just to grow. We’re trying to serve a community that is hungry for something real.”

He described the school’s efforts to balance mission and access as part of a longer-term vision. “We want to be a 100-year-old school,” he said. “That means building now for the families that are going to come later.”

As the law takes effect and the state prepares to implement the ESA program, many Catholic schools are watching closely. The policy may be new, but the core question for institutions like Frassati is one they’ve asked all along: how to remain faithful to mission while welcoming more families into the life of the Church.

“If this legislation helps more Catholic families access Catholic education, then we’ll be able to evangelize more boldly,” Lienhard said. “And that’s something we’re ready for.”

Left photo: Pivato and Pope Francis in March 2024. | Right photo: Francis and Pivato in December 2013, at the start of his pontificate. / Credit: Photos courtesy of Marcelo Pivato

Lima Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Following Pope Francis’ passing, one of his closest Argentine friends remembered him with gratitude, emphasizing that his legacy is impossible to minimize.

Cardinal John O’Connor attends the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City as grand marshal on March 17, 1995. / Credit: JON LEVY/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 3, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

In 1975, Cardinal John O’Connor, the late former archbishop of New York, visited the Dachau concentration camp. His life-changing experience there eventually led him to found the Sisters of Life, a community of women dedicated to living out his mission: protecting and enhancing human life.

Today, 25 years after his death, more than a 100 of those sisters will gather with O’Connor’s relatives, friends, and those who have benefited from his ministry to celebrate his legacy.

Sister Maris Stella, vicar general of the Sisters of Life, reflected on that legacy and told CNA that throughout his life O’Connor “had great respect for the dignity of the human person” and always had the dream to work with people in need, specifically children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

Finding a ‘spiritual response’ to a ‘culture of death’

O’Connor entered the priesthood when he was 25 years old in his home state of Pennsylvania. He began teaching high school students while continuing his own education receiving degrees in ethics and psychology and later a doctorate in political science.

In his early 30s, O’Connor joined the United States Navy as a chaplain and wrote curriculum and leadership formation programs for Navy personnel, forming them in virtue and teaching them to have respect for the human person. His 27 years in the Navy greatly shifted his path. 

In the mid-1970s, he made a visit to Dachau in Germany, where thousands were killed during World War II. Sister Maris Stella told CNA that while he was there, he had a profound experience that changed his life.

“He went to the crematorium and placed his hands in the oven … and was pierced to the heart and cried out: ‘My God, how could human beings do this to other human beings?’”

“You could say that in placing his hand in the oven, he kind of placed his hand on the deepest wound in our culture, which he saw was this contempt for human life, this disregard for the dignity of the human person,” Sister Maris Stella said.

In that moment, O’Connor vowed to do everything in his power to protect human life.

In 1984 he was appointed the archbishop of New York, and just a year later he was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. O’Connor became very active in the pro-life movement by preaching and advocating alongside other leaders. 

But despite his work, Sister Maris Stella said, “he wondered why there wasn’t greater progress being made on behalf of human life.” He began to pray and reflect on the Scriptures and the Gospel of Mark.

“There’s a story where Jesus sends out the apostles and they can do all these things in his name. But,” Sister Maris Stella said, “there was one demon they couldn’t cast out, and Our Lord says to them, ‘Some demons are only cast out by prayer and fasting.’”

“When Cardinal read that, those words … jumped off the page to him, and he understood that this contempt for human life was a demon in our culture.”

“It was a spiritual reality that demanded a spiritual response,” Sister Maris Stella said. It inspired  O’Connor to found the Sisters of Life to be the “response to the culture of death [and] to pray and fast on behalf of human life.”

In order to find women to join, O’Connor wrote an article for his weekly column in the Catholic New York newspaper highlighting his vision with the headline: “Help Wanted: Sisters of Life.”

Soon after, eight women reached out to be a part of it.

The Sisters of Life

Today, three decades since the Sisters of Life began in New York, there are almost 140 women in the community serving across the globe. 

The sisters “believe that every person is sacred, unique, and unrepeatable, and infinitely loved by God. Not for anything they can do, produce, or achieve, but simply because they exist and are created in God’s image,” Sister Maris Stella said.

The sisters work to ensure human dignity is protected and enhanced by serving pregnant women in crisis, hosting retreats, and spreading the message of the dignity of life.

At one of their seven convents in the New York area, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent in Midtown Manhattan, the sisters also run the Holy Respite, inviting pregnant women to live with them throughout their pregnancies. It has been open for nearly 27 years and hundreds of women and children have stayed there as their guests. 

The sisters also hold their Entering Canaan retreats to serve women who are suffering after the experience of abortion so the women “can receive God’s healing and mercy and come back to the life of the Church.”

Each year, the sisters host a number of weekendlong women’s retreats and a men’s retreat to take time for silent prayer, Eucharistic adoration, Mass, confession, and hearing conferences by the sisters. Occasionally, they will hold similar retreats for people with disabilities, continuing O’Connor’s love for and outreach to them.

Sister Maris Stella told CNA that for O’Connor, “the vulnerability of people with disabilities and the vulnerability of the unborn, to him, showed more than anyone the sacredness of human life.”

“The unborn and those who are weak and suffering in a way carry within them the glory of God in a more magnificent way, because their dignity doesn’t arise from what they can do, because in many cases their capacities are limited, but their dignity arises from the fact that they are held into existence by God’s love.”

Celebrating ‘a legacy of life and love’

In celebration of O’Connor’s legacy 25 years after his death, on May 3 the Sisters of Life is hosting a block party on John Cardinal O’Connor Way, a street in New York named after the pro-life champion. O’Connor’s family members, families the sisters have helped over the years, and supporters of the organization will gather with the sisters for food, music, and games.

Following the festivities, the attendees will go to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a vigil memorial Mass to honor O’Connor and his “legacy of love and life” and his “entrance into eternal life.”

Confessional. / Credit: AS photo studio/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 3, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday signed a controversial state law that requires priests to report child abuse to authorities even if they learn of it during the sacrament of confession.

The measure, introduced in the state Legislature earlier this year, adds clergy to the list of mandatory abuse reporters in the state but doesn’t include an exemption for information learned in the confessional.

A 2023 version of the proposal had offered an exemption for abuse allegations learned “solely as a result of a confession.” The latest bill does not contain such a carve-out and in fact explicitly notes that clergy do not qualify for a “privileged communication” exemption.

Ferguson told reporters that as a Catholic he was “very familiar” with the sacrament of confession. “[I] felt this was important legislation,” he said on Friday.

Spokane Bishop Thomas Daly, meanwhile, said in a Friday statement that clergy there would not break the seal of confession even if required to by law.

“[S]hepherds, bishop and priests” are “committed to keeping the seal of confession — even to the point of going to jail,” the bishop said.

“The sacrament of penance is sacred and will remain that way in the Diocese of Spokane,” he added.

The bishop noted that the Spokane Diocese maintains “an entire department at the chancery” dedicated to protecting children and that it employs a zero-tolerance policy regarding child sexual abuse.

“As this matter continues to unfold, I intend on keeping you informed and updated,” the bishop wrote. “An important element to the greatness of America is our constitutional commitment to religious freedom.”

A bill proposed in Montana earlier this year similarly proposed to “eliminate clergy exemption in mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect.” 

Clergy “may not refuse to make a report as required ... on the grounds of a physician-patient or similar privilege,” the Montana bill said. That measure stalled at committee in January.

In May 2023 Delaware legislators proposed a bill requiring priests to break the seal of confession in cases of reporting sexual abuse. A similar law was proposed in Vermont around the same time. Both bills failed to advance in their respective legislatures.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Sistine Chapel usually top the "must see" list of visitors to Rome and the Vatican.

But as 133 of the world's cardinals prepared to enter the conclave May 7 to elect the new pope, the Sistine Chapel was closed to visitors April 28.

In preparation for the conclave, workers placed a protective covering over the marble mosaic floors and started carrying in pipes, couplers and sheets of subflooring. 

The chapel is the highlight of most tours of the Vatican Museums and close to 7 million people visit each year, especially to see the ceiling Michelangelo painted between 1508 and 1512 and the massive wall fresco of the Last Judgment he painted between 1535 and 1541.

As documented by the Vatican Media video team beginning April 28, the din of tourists, constantly reminded that it is a chapel and they must whisper, was replaced with the sounds of hammering and sawing, the ping of metal couplings hitting metal couplings and the thud of the subfloor being laid.

The new floors and a few ramps, set on top of mini-scaffolding, will eliminate most steps and make the chapel more accessible for the cardinals, whose average age is over 70. Rows of tables and chairs will be added along the north and south walls so that the cardinals face each other. The tables closest to the walls will be raised slightly so that the cardinals in the back have a clear view. 

While photographers, and tourists with a keen eye, watched from St. Peter's Square as Vatican firefighters installed a chimney on the chapel roof May 2, Vatican Media photographers documented what was happening inside.

Two stoves, connected by a copper pipe, were installed: one to burn ballots and the other to burn chemicals to create either dark black or bright white smoke to let the public know if a pope was elected or not. 

Before the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, the ballots were burned with wet or dry straw, which produced the right color, but never really created enough smoke to offer a clear signal.

Maintaining secrecy is part of the cardinals' oath, so technicians will sweep the chapel for electronic surveillance or recording devices before the conclave.

Before the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, then-Vatican spokesman, told reporters that jamming devices are used to disable cellphone signals, but that they are not installed under the false flooring as often is reported.

In 2003, two years before his death, St. John Paul II reflected on his experiences in the Sistine Chapel in a series of poems "Roman Triptych."

He wrote about the two conclaves of 1978 -- the first that elected Pope John Paul I and then the conclave that elected him. 

"It is here, at the feet of this marvelous Sistine profusion of color that the Cardinals gather -- a community responsible for the legacy of the keys of the Kingdom," St. John Paul wrote. "They come right here. And once more Michelangelo wraps them in his vision."

That vision, he wrote, begins with the "creating hand" of God giving life to Adam and ends with the Last Judgment. But it also includes Jesus telling St. Peter in Matthew 16:19: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

"It is necessary that during the Conclave, Michelangelo teach them," the late pope wrote. "Do not forget: 'Omnia nuda et aperta sunt ante oculos Eius' ('All things are laid bare and open before his eyes'). You who see all -- point to him! He will point him out."

null / Credit: angellodeco/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 2, 2025 / 18:23 pm (CNA).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a report Thursday that outlines concerns about the use of life-altering drugs and surgeries on minors who struggle with gender dysphoria.

The HHS report notes that this model, sometimes called “gender-affirming care,” includes irreversible medical interventions on children who do not have any physical health conditions. The treatments are designed to feminize boys and masculinize girls, and the surgeries make the child’s body appear more similar to that of the opposite sex.

“Systematic reviews of the evidence have revealed deep uncertainty about the purported benefits of these interventions,” the foreword of the executive summary of the 400-page report notes.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order during his second week in office that directed HHS, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to produce a report on this subject. The order also directed all hospitals that receive federal funding to halt the practice of giving children drugs or performing surgeries on them to treat gender dysphoria.

According to the report, “these interventions carry risk of significant harms,” which can include infertility, sexual dysfunction, underdeveloped bone mass, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, and adverse cognitive impacts, among other complications.

The report notes that the purported benefit of these interventions is “to improve mental health outcomes” for children who identify themselves as transgender and desire certain physical changes. However, according to the report, systematic reviews of patients “have not found credible evidence that they lead to meaningful improvement in mental health.”

“When medical interventions pose unnecessary, disproportionate risks of harm, health care providers should refuse to offer them even when they are preferred, requested, or demanded by patients,” the report’s authors write.

The report finds “no evidence that pediatric medical transition reduces the incidence of suicide, which remains, fortunately, very low.” For this reason, the authors criticize organizations that frame these interventions as “medically necessary” or “lifesaving,” arguing that such characterizations are not supported by the evidence. 

Although the authors note that “the principle of autonomy” is important in medicine, they add that there is not a “right to receive interventions that are not beneficial” and that autonomy “does not negate clinicians’ professional and ethical obligation to protect and promote their patients’ health.” 

The report also discusses “regret,” particularly coming from so-called “detransitioners” who seek to reverse body-altering medical interventions they have received. It states that the “regret” rate is unknown and that more evidence is needed, but adds: “That some patients report profound regret after undergoing invasive, life-changing medical interventions is clearly of importance.”

There is little evidence concerning the benefits of psychotherapeutic interventions in the treatment of children with gender dysphoria, according to the report. However, there is evidence supporting psychotherapeutic interventions for children with other mental health problems, and there is no evidence psychotherapeutic interventions for gender dysphoria causes harm.

Mary Rice Hasson, the director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA that the report is “extremely well done” and provides an “in-depth and unbiased analysis” of the current medical literature related to treating children who have gender dysphoria.

Hasson said this guidance can serve as a resource for parents, physicians, and policymakers who are “seeking to help ‘gender-dysphoric’ minors.”

“Both evidence and ethics point to the better solution for treating identity-distressed kids: psychotherapy and time,” she said. “Let kids be kids, and let them grow up undamaged by drastic, disabling interventions.”

Jill Simons, a pediatrician and executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, told CNA that the Trump administration “should be applauded” for its work so far on this subject but added that “more has to be done” and called on pediatricians to “stand up to the organizations … that are still promoting … these harmful [procedures].”

Simons also noted that the report found no evidence that these medical interventions reduce the risk of suicide and warned that some doctors make that claim “to scare parents.” 

“Parents need to know that that is just simply not true,” she said.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a pro-LGBT group, criticized the HHS report.

“Trans people are who we are,” HRC Chief of Staff Jay Brown said in a statement. “We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.”

Trump’s executive order to halt gender-altering drugs and surgeries for children has been subject to numerous lawsuits.

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CNA Staff, May 2, 2025 / 17:44 pm (CNA).

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS) announced today a new memorandum of understanding with Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, which the organizations say solidifies their “long-standing commitment to the holistic development and spiritual growth of young people.”

“This agreement reaffirms [our] shared values and outlines collaborative efforts to provide enriching and character-building opportunities for Catholic youth through Scouting,” the organizations said in a May 1 joint announcement. The text of the memorandum was not immediately made available. 

The NCCS, founded in the early 20th century, is an advisory committee that utilizes all the programs and activities of the Boy Scouts of America but works with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to ensure alignment of Catholic Scouting programs with Catholic teaching, the organization says. The organization serves some 98,000 Catholic Scouts, according to its website.

Catholic organizations were early supporters of the Boy Scouts after its founding in 1910, with the earliest known Catholic-chartered troops established in St. Paul, Minnesota, that year. Today there are more than 3,270 Catholic-sponsored Scouting units across the nation, the groups say. 

The two organizations’ renewed partnership signifies “a continued dedication to working together to empower young people with strong moral compasses, leadership skills, and a commitment to service,” the announcement continues. 

“Today’s signing of the [memorandum] between Scouting America and the National Catholic Committee on Scouting reaffirms a long-standing partnership built on shared values of faith, service, and leadership,” said Bill Guglielmi, chair-elect of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. 

“Together, we celebrate over 100 years of collaboration in shaping young people of character guided by the values of the Scout Oath and Law, especially the principles of duty to God and reverence. Our actions today reaffirm our mutual commitment to continuing this important mission for generations to come.”

The May 1 announcement comes after a turbulent dozen or so years for the Boy Scouts, which rely heavily on religious organizations to run their local troops. 

The organization lifted a ban on members who identify as gay in 2013 and faced major backlash in 2015 over its decision to allow openly gay men to serve as troop leaders. The organization later opened its ranks to girls as well as to biological girls who identify as boys. 

After seeing its membership plummet due to the pandemic, the Boy Scouts declared bankruptcy in 2020 amid a flood of some 82,000 sexual abuse claims, later agreeing to a $2.4 billion settlement plan for victims in 2024.