Catholic Bishops Issue Special Pastoral Message on Immigration

Yesterday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered at their Fall Plenary Assembly, issued a Special Pastoral Message on immigration. (Press release and full text). The Special Message-- the first since 2013-- was adopted by the Plenary Assembly by a vote of 216 in favor, 5 opposed, and 3 abstentions. The Special Pastoral Message reads in part:

... We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones....

... We bishops advocate for a meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures. Human dignity and national security are not in conflict. Both are possible if people of good will work together....

... We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for past and present opportunities to dialogue with public and elected officials....

En Banc Review Rejected on Denial of Interlocutory Appeal of Church Autonomy Issue

In O'Connell v. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, (DC Cir., Nov. 6, 2025), the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, over one dissent, denied en banc review of a panel's refusal to allow an interlocutory appeal of a ruling in which the district court refused to dismiss a case against the Conference of Bishops (USCCB). Plaintiff in the case charged the USCCB with fraudulent solicitation of donations, claiming that it misrepresented where money donated to Peter's Pence Collection would go. USCCB sought dismissal of the suit on church autonomy grounds. The district court refused. A 3-judge panel of the DC Circuit in O'Connell v. U.S. Conference of Bishops, (DC Cir., April 25, 2025), held that the district court's ruling could not be appealed until the district court had rendered a final decision in the case. The panel said in part:

... [I]t seems clear that the [Supreme] Court confirmed the church autonomy doctrine is not jurisdictional; it is an affirmative defense. And, like any other defense, a defense based on church autonomy can be adequately addressed after trial.

In last week's decision, the DC Circuit en banc agreed. While no opinion for the majority accompanied the Order denying en banc review, two of the Court's judges, Judge Walker and Judge Edwards, each filed a separate opinion concurring in the decision. Judge Edwards said in part:

Indeed, the idea that there could be collateral order review in a case of this sort would mean that there could be a constant stream of interlocutory review petitions every time a litigant merely asserts a religious privilege during trial (which could happen every time the district court issued an evidentiary or discovery order). You could have interlocutory review after interlocutory review after interlocutory review, endlessly. This makes no sense in light of the final decision rule, especially given that a religious organization always retains the right to appeal any final judgment (or preliminary injunction) issued against it before it is required to take any contested action. 

Neither the Supreme Court nor any circuit has ever expanded the collateral order doctrine to categorically cover alleged denials of a church autonomy defense.

Judge Rao filed a 31-page dissenting opinion, saying in part:

The district court erred by invoking neutral principles of law to reject a church autonomy defense. Instead, the district court was required to assess whether the Catholic Church’s administration of Peter’s Pence, a major giving initiative, was within the constitutionally protected sphere of church autonomy. Because the solicitation and expenditure of religious donations clearly implicate matters of faith, doctrine, and internal governance, O’Connell’s lawsuit should have been dismissed....

... [T]he Religion Clauses protect a sphere of church autonomy from state interference. Because such interference can include the very process of judicial inquiry, the church autonomy defense is best understood as a constitutional immunity from suit....

The facts of this case typify the stakes for religious liberty when a church autonomy defense is denied. O’Connell, an individual congregant, challenges the Catholic Church’s use of his donation and asks the Bishops to disclose lengthy donor lists, records of amounts received, and the ways in which contributions made under Peter’s Pence were deployed. Describing the litigation demonstrates how it plainly encroaches on the heartland of matters committed to the Church’s exclusive sphere, including ecclesiastical decisions about how to solicit, manage, and use religious donations. Without immediate interlocutory review, the Bishops have no meaningful route to protect their independence from judicial intrusion into matters of faith, doctrine, and internal governance. Requiring the Bishops to go forward with this litigation comports with neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court’s precedents....

Priest's Defamation Suit Dismissed on Ecclesiastical Abstention Grounds

In Catholic Diocese of Richmond v. Smalls, (VA App, Nov. 5, 2025), a Virginia state appellate court dismissed on ecclesiastical abstention grounds a defamation suit by a priest serving in the Diocese of Belize.  The Diocese of Richmond included plaintiff's name on a list of priests who had credible and substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.  The allegations against plaintiff occurred while he was a seminarian in the Richmond Diocese. The court said in part:

It is clear that the definition used to determine that there was a credible and substantiated allegation against Smalls of sexual abuse involving a minor includes references to religious precepts.  The definition discusses sexual abuse in terms of a violation of the Sixth Commandment.  It also provides that clergy who possessed, acquired, or distributed “pornographic images of minors under the age of fourteen” committed sexual abuse, but does not define “pornographic images.”  But if there is doubt as to whether such an offense has occurred, bishops are directed to reference writings of moral theologians.  Smalls’s defamation claim thus rests on the falsity of a statement that is based on the application of a specific religious definition of sexual abuse.  “[C]ivil courts cannot adjudicate defamation claims when the truth of the statements in question turns on ecclesiastical law.” ...

Because Smalls’s claim for defamation cannot be resolved on neutral secular principles, the circuit court was without subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case....

Wisconsin Argues for Eliminating Religious Nonprofit Exemption from Unemployment Tax

 As previously reported, in June in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court, held that Wisconsin engaged in unconstitutional theological discrimination when its Supreme Court held that Catholic Charities Bureau does not qualify for the exemption from unemployment compensation tax that is granted by state statute to nonprofits "operated primarily for religious purposes."  The Court remanded the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for it to issue a remedial order.  In a Remedial Brief (full text) filed on October 20 in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the state argued that the unconstitutional discrimination can be remedied by either expanding the exemption to cover organizations like Catholic Charities, or by eliminating the exemption for all religious organizations. The brief argues in part:

Two sources indicate a strong legislative preference for restoring equal treatment by eliminating this discriminatory exemption. First, the Legislature prefers that courts sever invalid statutory provisions, a presumption that applies here given how the unemployment insurance system would function just as well without this exemption. Second, striking the exemption would better advance the Legislature’s express desire for broad unemployment insurance coverage.

Also on October 20, Catholic Charities filed a Supplemental Brief (full text) arguing that:

Wisconsin’s immodest proposal is wrong for at least ten reasons, each of which separately requires the Court to extend the religious exemption to Catholic Charities....

... Catholic Charities did not bring an Equal Protection Clause case, it brought a Religion Clauses case. Catholic Charities’ injury is not mere unequal treatment; it is having to pay a tax despite a statutory entitlement to an exemption from that tax. Indeed, Catholic Charities has sought its own relief from the tax—not to force other groups to pay the tax, too....

Nullifying the Legislature’s religious purposes exemption would create a church autonomy violation by dividing Catholic Charities from the Diocese of Superior....

 Christian Post reports on these developments.

Catholic Bishops Object to White House's Initiatives Creating Greater Access to IVF

In a Fact Sheet (full text) released October 16, the White House announced several initiatives designed to increase access to, and reduce the cost of, in-vitro fertilization. These include agreements with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the price of existing fertility drugs and to speed up FDA approval of lower priced alternatives. The initiatives also include new methods for employers to offer benefit packages that would pay for a wide range of fertility-related services, from those that address the root causes of infertility to IVF. The U.S. conference of Catholic Bishops responded to the White House's announcements in an October 17 press release, saying:

Though we are grateful that aspects of the Administration’s policies announced Thursday intend to include comprehensive and holistic restorative reproductive medicine, which can help ethically to address infertility and its underlying causes, we strongly reject the promotion of procedures like IVF that instead freeze or destroy precious human beings and treat them like property.

Every human life, born and preborn, is sacred and loved by God. Without diminishing the dignity of people born through IVF, we must recognize that children have a right to be born of a natural and exclusive act of married love, rather than a business’s technological intervention. And harmful government action to expand access to IVF must not also push people of faith to be complicit in its evils.

We will continue to review these new policies and look forward to engaging further with the Administration and Congress, always proclaiming the sanctity of life and of marriage.

First Things in an article by Ryan Anderson analyzes this White House initiative, saying in part:

The Trump administration’s IVF policy unveiled on Thursday is perhaps the least bad that we could have hoped for.... [T]here will be no IVF mandate or direct government subsidies for IVF. Those who feared something akin to the Obama contraception mandate or taxpayer funding of abortion can breathe a sigh of relief. There will be no direct religious liberty or conscience violations, nor implications for taxpayer funding. 

But least bad is still bad.

Placing Patron Saint Statues on City Safety Building Is Enjoined

In Fitzmaurice v. City of Quincy, (MA Super. Ct., Oct. 14, 2025), a Massachusetts state trial court issued a preliminary injunction barring installation, while the case proceeds, on a newly built public safety building of two ten-foot bronze statues depicting the Catholic patron saints of police and firefighters. The suit, filed by taxpayers, was brought under Art. 3 of the state constitution which requires equal treatment of all religious sects. The court held that while the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the Lemon test for federal Establishment Clause challenges, the Lemon test still applies to claims under Art. 2 and 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The court said in part:

The Complaint here plausibly alleges that the statues at issue convey a message of endorsing one religion over others.... The statues, particularly when considered together, patently endorse Catholic beliefs....

Defendants contend that the statues have a secular purpose of inspiring police officers and their display ... neither advance nor prohibit religion... [T]he mayor's professed secular purpose offers nothing more than semantics.... It is impossible to strip the statue of its religious meaning to contrive a secular purpose.... 

ACLU Massachusetts issued a press release announcing the court's decision. A WCVB News report carries photos of the statues in question.

Diocese Has Vested Right in Statute of Limitations That Has Run in Suit by Abuse Victim

In 2020, the New Hampshire legislature amended its statute of limitations by removing the limitation period for suits alleging sexual assault. In Ball v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Manchester, (NH Sup. Ct., Oct. 15, 2025), the New Hampshire Supreme Court held that a defendant has a vested right in a statute of limitations defense once the limitation period has run. Therefore, Art. I, Sec. 23 of the New Hampshire Constitution bars applying the 2020 amendment to claims where the prior limitation period had run before 2020.  In the case, plaintiff sued the Catholic diocese and Catholic camps alleging negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of an employee who sexually abused him when he attended camp in the 1970s.  AP reports on the decision. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

NY Court Dismisses Suit by Parishes Challenging their Bishop's Decision to Close Them

In Rozak v Diocese of Buffalo, (NY Erie County Sup. Ct., Sept. 26, 2025), a number of Catholic parishes sued the Diocese of Buffalo in an attempt to prevent the Bishop of Buffalo from forcing the parishes to merge into other parishes. The parishes had already filed Canon Law appeals to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Clergy challenging the validity of the Bishop's merger decrees. The Dicastery issued an order suspending the merger decrees while the Canon Law appeals were proceeding. The parishes, however, also filed this suit in a New York civil court under the New York Religious Corporation Law asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the Merger Decrees while the ecclesiastical appeals proceeded.

The New York trial court dismissed the suit on jurisdictional grounds, saying in part:

Central to the pending actions is the inescapable fact that while the plaintiffs make overtures and attempt to frame their complaints to include a companion reference that the "temporalities and property" of the subject parishes are contemporaneously at risk of misappropriation vis-à-vis the manner by which and the purpose for which the mergers were declared by Bishop Fisher, these are not per se typical or traditional common law property disputes under any provisions of applicable New York civil law. More compelling in these actions is the undisputed fact that the Suspension Letters have operatively controlled and stayed all aspects of the challenged Merger Decrees and more recently, the first Dicasterium Decree that has been issued makes a plain declaration of the matters raised in the complaints, to wit, formally "confirming the extinctive union, for which sufficient cause has been shown" and directing the treatment and handling of the "temporal goods of the suppressed Parish."

Though avidly and forthrightly argued by plaintiffs that the disposition rendered by the Dicastery in the Dicasterium Decree is supportive of their position for the Court to grant the relief sought in these actions, it is plain and obvious from the averments made in their supplemental papers that the plaintiffs acknowledge, accept and completely reconcile themselves to the decisional authority of the Canon Law and ecclesiastical governance of the Roman Catholic Church to be solely and ultimately responsible for the lawful disposition of all the issues raised in these actions.... 

Law and Religion Blogosphere Is Shrinking

The blogging platform Typepad closed down on September 30. As reported by Lexblog, "Typepad was arguably once the most popular publishing platforms with legal bloggers." Some Typepad blogs migrated to other platforms. Others closed down, including many that were part of the Law Professors Blog Network.  One which closed down, at least for now, is Mirror of Justice blog which for over 20 years had been a rich source for discussion of Catholic Legal Theory. The blog, co-founded by Notre Dame Law Professor Rick Garnett, was affiliated with the Program on Church, State and Society at Notre Dame Law School. Thank you Mirror of Justice for your many contributions to intelligent online discussion of law and religion. You will be missed.  It is sad to see the legal blogsphere shrinking.

Contraceptive Mandate Religious and Moral Accommodation Rules Held Invalid

In Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Trump, (ED PA, Aug. 13, 2025), a Pennsylvania federal district court invalidated two rules promulgated in 2018 that allow employers with religious objections and most employers with moral objections to opt out of furnishing contraceptive coverage for their employees in their health insurance plans. Little Sisters of the Poor intervened as a defendant in the case. The court held that promulgation of the rule was arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The court said in part:

In promulgating the Religious Rule, the Agencies’ justified the Rule by invoking potential conflicts between the Contraceptive Mandate and RFRA....

The Religious Rule goes far “beyond what the Departments’ justification” (i.e., resolving potential conflicts between RFRA and the Contraceptive Mandate) “supported—raising doubts about whether the solution lacks a ‘rational connection’ to the problem described.”...

Neither is the Moral Rule sustainable.  The States’ point that, in promulgating the Moral Rule, the Agencies “relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider,”....  Accordingly, the Moral Rule must be set aside as arbitrary and capricious....

Quite apart from the reasons set forth above, both the Religious and the Moral Rules must be vacated because the Agencies did not provide a “satisfactory explanation for [their] action,”... in that they failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for their change in course regarding contraception’s safety and efficacy, and, they failed to adequately address reasonable alternatives to the Rules they crafted....

The APA provides that the “reviewing court shall . . . (2) hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions found to be—(A) arbitrary [and] capricious.”... “Ordinarily, reviewing courts have applied that provision by vacating invalid agency action and remanding the matter to the agency for further review.”...

Becket Fund issued a press release announcing the decision.

Court Enjoins Newly Mandated Child Abuse Reporting By Priests

In Etienne v. Ferguson, (WD WA, July 18, 2025), a Washington federal district court issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Washington's new law requiring priests to report suspected child abuse learned in the Sacrament of Confession. The injunction applies to all priests supervised by the archbishop and bishops who are plaintiffs in the suit. The court said in part:

There is no question that SB 5375 burdens Plaintiffs’ free exercise of religion.  In situations where Plaintiffs hear confessions related to child abuse or neglect, SB 5375 places them in the position of either complying with the requirements of their faith or violating the law....

SB 5375 modifies existing law solely to make members of the clergy mandatory reporters with respect to child abuse or neglect....  However, other groups of adults who may learn about child abuse are not required to report.  Parents and caregivers, for example, are not mandatory reporters.  Moreover, the Washington legislature passed Substitute House Bill 1171... exempting attorney higher education employees from mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect as it relates to information gained in the course of providing legal representation to a client”....

Thus, SB 5375 is neither neutral nor generally applicable because it treats religious activity less favorably than comparable secular activity....

The state, in removing the privileged communication exception for clergy but expanding it for other professionals, cannot demonstrate the narrow tailoring strict scrutiny requires....

Becket Law issued a press release announcing the decision.

Bishops Excuse Those Who Fear ICE Raids from Attending Mass

This week, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Bernadino issued a Decree (full text) formally dispensing from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass "all members of the faithful in the Diocese of San Bernadino who, due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions, are unable to attend...." The Decree encourages those excused from attending Mass to engage in other spiritual practices to maintain their spiritual connection to Christ and His Church. It also suggests that individuals participate in televised or online Masses.

In May, the Diocese of Nashville issued a similar lifting of the obligation to attend Mass by those who are concerned about possibly being confronted or detained.

Axios reports on these developments.

USCCB Releases 2024 Report on Sexual Abuse by Clergy

On June 6, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the release of their 2024 Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (full text of Report). The Preface to the 85-page Report says in part:

Despite our progress, the evil of abuse continues to exist. It is a relentless adversary that demands our ongoing vigilance and initiative-taking measures.... There is a significant cultural shift taking place within the Church. This shift is characterized by an increased emphasis on transparency, accountability, and victim-survivor support....

During the current audit period, dioceses and eparchies provided outreach and support services to 146 victim-survivors and their families who reported during this audit period. Continued support was provided to 1,434 victim-survivors and their families who reported abuse in prior audit periods. The report notes the ongoing work of the Church in continuing the call to ensure the safety of children, the young, and vulnerable adults. In 2024, the Church conducted 2,237,906 background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. In addition, in 2024, over 2.2 million adults and over 2.8 million children and youth were trained in how to identify the warning signs of abuse and how to report those signs.

According to the Report's lengthy statistical sections:

Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, 902 allegations were reported by 855 victims/survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy throughout 195 Catholic dioceses and eparchies that reported information....

...[T]he responding dioceses and eparchies reported that between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, they deemed 122 allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by a diocesan or eparchial priest or deacon to be credible. These allegations were made by 121 individuals against 97 priests or deacons. Of the 122 allegations deemed credible during this reporting period ..., eight allegations involved children under the age of 18 since 2005. All of the other allegations were made by adults who are alleging abuse when they were minors....

Dioceses and eparchies that responded to the survey and reported costs related to allegations, paid out $242,799,401 between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. Like in previous years’ surveys, this includes payments for allegations reported in previous years....

... [T]he total costs for year 2024 ($242,799,401) is 7 percent lower than that reported for year 2023.... That decrease is mostly due to the change in the amount paid in settlements for the year 2024, which decreased by 15 percent.

Texas Supreme Court: AG May Begin Proceedings to Close Down Catholic Refugee Agency for Harboring Illegal Migrants

In Paxton v. Annunciation House, Inc., (TX Sup. Ct., May 30, 2025), the Texas Supreme Court held that a state trial court was in error in refusing to allow the state Attorney General to file a quo warranto action as a first step in his attempt to revoke the corporate charter of a Catholic agency serving migrants and refugees in El Paso. The Attorney General claims that the agency is sheltering migrants who have entered the country illegally. The Supreme Court observed:

Bound up in the dispute are a host of serious questions: What kind of conduct constitutes unlawfully harboring illegal aliens?  Has Annunciation House engaged in such conduct?  Under what conditions may the attorney general demand access to Annunciation House’s records?  Can harboring illegal aliens provide a valid basis for the attorney general to file a quo warranto action?  Does Texas law that protects religious liberty forbid the attorney general from proceeding against Annunciation House under these circumstances?  And more still.

Ordinarily, before this Court addresses such significant issues, the parties would have developed a full record.... This case, however, comes to the Court as a direct appeal because, very early in the litigation, the trial court held that several Texas statutes are unconstitutional.  We accordingly must address this dispute far earlier than we typically would. 

Among other defenses, Annunciation House invoked the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Rejecting that defense, the Supreme Court said in part:

... [T]he relevant government action for purposes of applying RFRA here is not the charter revocation that may or may not arrive, but only the filing of the quo warranto information.  Engaging in litigation is generally not itself the sort of burden that RFRA forecloses— RFRA purposefully provides a tool to be deployed within litigation.  In this case, it has been invoked as an affirmative defense focusing not on the mere existence of the litigation but on a potential end result of that litigation.  Undoubtedly, RFRA can be powerful however it is deployed, and its potency often may be felt quite early.  But it is not a tool to convert a proceeding focused on whether litigation may even commence into one that reaches and resolves ultimate issues.  Were we to say more about RFRA at this stage, we would have to reach issues that go well beyond the narrow question of the attorney general’s authority to file a quo warranto counterclaim—and to do so without the benefit of a sufficiently developed record or even the refining that ordinarily comes through the usual litigation and appellate process.

Here are links to the pleadings and numerous amicus briefs filed in the case. Here is a link to video of oral arguments in the case. El Paso Times reports on the decision.

Washington Bishops Sue Challenging Expanded Child Abuse Reporting Law

Last week, the Catholic bishops in Washington state filed suit challenging the constitutionality of a recently adopted amendment to the state's mandatory child abuse reporting law. The amendment requires clergy to report child abuse or neglect when they have reasonable cause to believe that it has occurred, even when a priest learns of the abuse or neglect in a confessional. The complaint (full text) in Etienne v. Ferguson, (WD WA, filed 5/29/2025) alleges in part:

1. Consistent with the Roman Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate the societal scourge of child abuse, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and the Dioceses of Yakima and Spokane have each adopted and implemented within their respective dioceses policies that go further in the protection of children than the current requirements of Washington law on reporting child abuse and neglect....

3. Yet despite these self-imposed reporting policies—policies that go beyond what Washington law requires—Washington is targeting the Roman Catholic Church in a brazen act of religious discrimination.  Without any basis in law or fact, Washington now puts Roman Catholic priests to an impossible choice: violate 2,000 years of Church teaching and incur automatic excommunication or refuse to comply with Washington law and be subject to imprisonment, fine, and civil liability....  Washington has done so at the same time that it expanded exemptions from mandatory reporting requirements for certain non-clergy.  The object of this law is clear: subject Roman Catholic clergy to dictates of the state. 

4. Putting clergy to the choice between temporal criminal punishment and eternal damnation, interfering with the internal governance and discipline of the Catholic Church, and targeting religion for the abrogation of all privileges, is a patent violation of both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and a violation of Article I, Section 11 of the Washington Constitution.

The Pillar reports on the lawsuit.

Bankruptcy Court Allows Child Abuse Victims to File Suits to Avoid New Limits on Damages in Maryland

As previously reported, in September 2023, the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy protection in advance of the Oct. 1, 2023 effective date of the Maryland Child Victims Act.  That Act removed the statute of limitations for civil actions by victims of sexual abuse that occurred while the victim was a minor. However, in an amendment enacted this year (full text), the Maryland legislature reduced the amount of noneconomic damages that can be recovered in suits under the Act. The new limitation applies to actions filed on or after June 1, 2025. In In re Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, (D MD Bkrptcy, May 2, 2025), a bankruptcy court judge issued an order allowing survivors of child sexual abuse to file and serve a complaint against the Archdiocese and its insurance companies in Maryland courts before June 1 so, if the bankruptcy reorganization is not completed, victims will not be bound by the new limitation on damages.  Without this modification, the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code and the bankruptcy court's orders in the case would have prevented the filling of claims while the reorganization proceedings were pending. Baltimore Banner reports on the bankruptcy court's action.

Catholic Leaders Criticize Trump Over AI Picture of Him as Pope

An unusual conflict between the President of the United States and Catholic leaders has surfaced.  It began last Wednesday with what, according to National Catholic Reporter, was seen as a humorous remark by President Trump to reporters:

"I'd like to be pope. That would be my number one choice," the president joked, before endorsing his friend, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan for the Catholic Church's top job.

Then on Friday, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account and his X (formerly Twitter) account this AI generated photo of himself dressed as the Pope. It was also re-posted on the White House's X (formerly Twitter) account.

According to National Catholic Reporter in an article today:

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a firestorm of criticism from leaders of the Roman Catholic Church after posting on social media a computer-generated image of himself as pope in full papal regalia as Catholics worldwide continue to mourn Pope Francis....

On social media, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, said Trump owes an apology to Catholics.

"This is deeply offensive to Catholics especially during this sacred time that we are still mourning the death of Pope Francis and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the election of our new Pope," Paprocki wrote.

Paprocki quoted a Bible verse from Galatians that admonishes, "God is not mocked." He said, "By publishing a picture of himself masquerading as the Pope, President Trump mocks God, the Catholic Church, and the Papacy."

The New York State Catholic Conference said on X there is "nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us."

In Rome, Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was stopped by reporters and asked about it. "I hope he didn’t have anything to do with that," Dolan said in a video posted on social media by a multimedia journalist for the New York Archdiocese. 

"Are you offended by that?" a journalist asked. 

Dolan paused and replied, "It wasn’t good." He repeated that in Italian for Roman journalists and laughed nervously....

A Catholic News Service article quoting Cardinal Dolan was posted today on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Convicted Cardinal Claims Eligibility to Vote for New Pope

In the Vatican, an unusual legal dispute has surfaced over the eligibility of the former deputy Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, to vote at the upcoming Conclave to select a new Pope.  Article 36 of Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis on the Vacancy of the Apostolic See and the Election of the Roman Pontiff provides:

A Cardinal of Holy Roman Church ... has the right to elect the Pope, in accordance with the norm of No. 33 of the present Constitution....On the other hand, Cardinals who have been canonically deposed or who with the consent of the Roman Pontiff have renounced the cardinalate do not have this right....

According to the National Catholic Register yesterday: 

[Becciu] lost all cardinal privileges in September 2020 after Vatican prosecutors presented Pope Francis with findings from an investigation into alleged financial crimes. 

As a consequence, Pope Francis required him to resign ... his position at that time, and “the rights connected to the cardinalate.” He duly agreed to comply, retaining the title of cardinal while being stripped of the rights and privileges associated with the office.

...  In 2021, he became the first cardinal to ever be tried by the Vatican’s criminal court.

In 2023, the court convicted the cardinal of embezzlement, aggravated fraud, and abuse of office.... He has always maintained his innocence and is currently appealing against the conviction through the Vatican’s Court of Appeal, which began hearings last October but has yet to give a ruling. 

Pope Francis invited Cardinal Becciu to attend a consistory in August 2022, an invitation that was described as a “private act of pastoral mercy” but not a step toward his rehabilitation or reinstatement of his cardinalatial rights. 

But speaking Tuesday, Cardinal Becciu gave that 2022 invitation as a reason for his eligibility to vote, saying that it showed “the Pope recognized that my cardinal prerogatives remain intact.”

Catholic Employers Get Permanent Injunction Against EEOC

In Catholic Benefits Association v. Lucas, (D ND, April 25, 2025), a North Dakota federal district court converted a preliminary injunction granted last September to a Catholic diocese and a Catholic employers' organization (see prior posting) into a permanent injunction. At issue are rules and guidance documents issued under the Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.  The permanent injunction provides in part:

(1) The EEOC and its agents are permanently enjoined from interpreting or enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and any implementing regulations ... against the Diocese of Bismarck and the CBA, including present and future members, in a manner that would require them to accommodate abortion or infertility treatments that are contrary to the Catholic faith, speak in favor of the same or refrain from speaking against the same.  

(2) The EEOC and its agents are permanently enjoined from interpreting or enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, any implementing regulations or guidances, including the Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, against the Diocese of Bismarck and the CBA, including present and future members, in a manner that would require them to speak or communicate in favor of abortion, fertility treatments, or gender transition when such is contrary to the Catholic faith; refrain from speaking or communicating against the same when such is contrary to the Catholic faith, use pronouns inconsistent with a person’s biological sex; or allow persons to use private spaces reserved for the opposite sex.

ABC News reports on the decision.

Catholic Bishops Conference Ends Agreements with U.S. On Refugees and Children's Services

In a press release yesterday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that it will not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government on support of refugees and services for children. According to the press release:

Over the years, partnerships with the federal government helped expand lifesaving programs, benefiting our sisters and brothers from many parts of the world.... Our efforts were acts of pastoral care and charity, generously supported by the people of God when funds received from the government did not cover the full cost.

Today, the USCCB makes the heartbreaking announcement that we will not be renewing existing cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support. This difficult decision follows the suspension by the government of our cooperative agreements to resettle refugees. The decision to reduce these programs drastically forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution. 

As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form. As USCCB cooperative agreements for refugee resettlement and children’s programs end, we will work to identify alternative means of support for the people the federal government has already admitted to these programs. We ask your prayers for the many staff and refugees impacted....

For half a century, we have been willing partners in implementing the government’s refugee resettlement program. The Gospel’s call to do what we can for the least among us remains our guide. We ask you to join us in praying for God’s grace in finding new ways to bring hope where it is most needed.