“Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age” is a new documentary film exploring the life of Carlo Acutis that will be coming to theaters in the spring of 2025. / Credit: Castletown Media

CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

Castletown Media, the production company behind the new film “Roadmap to Reality: Carlo Acutis and Our Digital Age,” has announced that the National Eucharistic Congress Inc. and the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame have become official partners for the upcoming documentary exploring the life of the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint.

“The National Eucharistic Congress is passionate about reigniting devotion to the Eucharist in this country, and when we shared the project with them they were thrilled insofar as how this film really resonates with that mission,” the director of the new Acutis film and founder of Castletown Media, Tim Moriarty, told CNA in an interview.

In a press release, Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, chair of the National Eucharistic Revival who appears in the film, said: “Soon-to-be St. Carlo Acutis is a modern apostle who can inspire young people to discover the incredible gift of the Eucharist. Carlo is the model for the kind of Eucharistic missionary we, as bishops, hope every Catholic will become.”

Meanwhile, the McGrath Institute, known for its work partnering with Catholics parishes, dioceses, and schools to offer resources and materials to address pastoral challenges, will be offering its expertise to the film’s production by developing educational materials for parishes and schools based on themes found in the documentary.

Moriarty explained that they began speaking with the McGrath Institute when they began to cover the issue of technology and the impact it’s having on young people while making the film. They interviewed several members of the McGrath team and realized that together they could “do more good.” 

As partners, the McGrath Institute will specifically be creating material for youth preparing for their first Communion by helping them “understand what the Eucharist is at a time in their lives where screen addiction becomes increasingly problematic,” Moriarty explained.

On Nov. 20, Pope Francis announced the canonization date of Blessed Carlo Acutis, which will take place on April 27, 2025, during the Church’s Jubilee of Teenagers. Moriarty called this announcement “providential” as the film will be in theaters in time for the canonization. 

“Roadmap to Reality” explores the life of Carlo Acutis and the lessons he offers young people regarding the challenges of the digital world. The documentary blends live action, animation, and documentary-style interviews with Acutis’ family, friends, tech experts, and scholars to tackle urgent questions about artificial intelligence and the technological world we live in.

“One of the themes in the film is that he [Acutis] was online to lead people offline,” Moriarty shared. “He was online to lead people back to the Eucharist, back to real encounters.”

“I think what Carlo did in his life was to show us that yes, we have to be engaging online, sharing the Gospel online, but we have to do it in a way where we don’t lose touch with the incarnational reality, which is fully present to us in the Eucharist, which is that real substantial presence. I think there’s something in that that is very powerful and for me has been really moving and healing the more I try to follow Carlo’s example,” Moriarty concluded.

Archbishop Boris Godziak, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archiparagi of Philadelphia. / Credit: “EWTN News in Depth”/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A Ukrainian archbishop says he has encouraged President-elect Donald Trump to visit Ukraine to help “build a policy for the future.” 

During a Friday interview with “EWTN News In Depth” anchor Catherine Hadro, Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia said that he spoke briefly with Trump before the election at the Oct. 17 Al Smith dinner, where he encouraged Trump to visit Ukraine. Gudziak has subsequently written a letter to the president-elect to the same effect.

“I think if he went now, before the inauguration, for example, with a group of religious leaders on a humanitarian mission, he would see for himself what is happening on the ground,” Gudziak explained. “Everybody that has gone to Ukraine — cardinals, political leaders, humanitarian workers, people who were skeptical, people that knew a lot — all came out knowing much, much more and understanding more deeply what’s happening.” 

“So I would encourage President Trump to go to Ukraine,” Gudziak said, as “a base on which to build a policy for the future.”

Nov. 19 marked 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. Ukraine on Tuesday used U.S. missiles to strike deeper into Russian territory, following President Joe Biden’s authorization of such use. Russian forces shot down five of six of the missiles that were fired at a military facility.  

Gudziak said of the somber milestone: “It is a time of mourning.” 

“There’s great pain and great wounds in our people, in our Church,” Gudziak noted. “At the same time, there’s great gratitude. Most observers internationally, and particularly Putin, thought Ukraine would fall in a matter of three days or three weeks. And now, three years later, the people still stand, keep standing, defending their God-given dignity, their freedom, their democracy.”

Devastating toll

Hundreds of thousands have been killed as a result of the Russian invasion, with more than 14 million people forced to leave their homes. The archbishop noted that 4,000 schools and 2,000 hospitals have been destroyed. 

“There’s great suffering, great trauma which will be lasting,” Gudziak said. “But there is also the sense of courage and gratitude for God’s graces that Russia has not occupied all of Ukraine and that the country is still free.” 

When asked what it’s like for Catholics in Ukraine, Gudziak said that “the public life of the Catholic Church has been virtually extinguished” in Eastern Ukraine, where Russia has occupied parts of three regions.   

“There [are] no Ukrainian Catholic priests functioning there now, and a couple of priests who were abducted and tortured for 18 months, who were freed in the summer — they show the scars of what Russian captivity is like,” the archbishop said.

“For Catholics, it should be clear that Russian occupation means [the] extinguishing of our normal church life,” he continued.

But Gudziak noted that Catholic charities have come together to support Ukrainians, including Caritas Ukraine, a Catholic charity in Ukraine.

“Bishops and priests are in place, serving the people, celebrating the sacraments, announcing the good news, but also very much engaged in humanitarian work, helping those that have lost their homes, their possessions, distributing clothing, food, fostering medical care,” he said. 

“Very importantly, the Church reminds people of their God-given dignity, the fact that the Lord is with them, that every hair on their head is counted” and that the country has lived through “even more harrowing experiences,” he said.

“During World War II, between the Nazis and the Soviets, 6 [million] to 7 million residents of Ukraine were killed and the whole country was devastated,” Gudziak continued. “Ukrainians know they’ve lived through the crucifixion and have resurrected in the past. So the Church announces this paschal Kerygma: We carry our cross and God will give us life.”

The relics of St. Thomas Aquinas are kept in Toulouse, France, where the Dominican order was founded. / Credit: Didier Descouens|Wikimedia|CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 23, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The major relics of St. Thomas Aquinas, “The Angelic Doctor,” are on tour and scheduled to make a stop in Washington, D.C., next weekend as part of the commemoration of the 700th anniversary of his canonization. 

Members of the faithful will be able to venerate the relics, including his skull, on two separate occasions: first at St. Dominic’s Church on Friday, Nov. 29, and then again on Saturday, Nov. 30, at the Dominican House of Studies. The event is co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute. 

“In a time of renewed interest in the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, the jubilees of his canonization (700 years in 2023), death (750 years in 2024), and birth (800 years in 2025) draw our attention to the masterwork of wisdom and sanctity which God wrought in him,” Father Gregory Pine, OP, assistant director at the Thomistic Institute, said in a press release. 

“The opportunity that we have to receive and venerate his relics makes this grace all the more proximate and precious to us,” Pine added.

Friday’s event will begin at 12:10 p.m. with a solemn Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, followed by an opportunity to venerate the relics of the revered theologian and philosopher from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will also be solemn vespers at 5:30 p.m. and night prayer at 6:45 p.m. with a Marian procession to follow. 

On Saturday, the Dominican House of Studies will begin the day with solemn lauds and a votive Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas at 7:30 a.m., and veneration of the relics will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pine will also preach at 3 p.m. that day. 

“‘Get wisdom, get understanding’ (Prv 4:5). One way is to study, another way is to pray for it, but an exceptional way is to pray for it in the presence of the skull of St. Thomas Aquinas,” Father James Brent, OP, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies, also stated in the release. 

The relic of St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull comes to the U.S. from the Dominicans in Toulouse, France, and is one of two skulls Church officials claim to have belonged to the 11th-century saint. The other is housed in the Italian city of Priverno. The Dominicans in France commissioned a new reliquary for the skull last year to celebrate the saint’s canonization anniversary.

After Aquinas’ death in 1274, his body was kept in Fossanova Abbey in Priverno until 1369, when his relics were moved to Toulouse, a city in southwestern France, where the Order of Preachers was established. Aquinas’ tomb rests in the Church of the Jacobins. 

Researchers are currently weighing the possibility of conducting an in-depth forensic analysis of both skulls to determine their authenticity. 

Where do the relics go next?

After two stops in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, Aquinas’ relics hit the road for their U.S. tour:

Charlottesville, Virginia: St. Thomas Aquinas on Dec. 2

Providence, Rhode Island: Providence College on Dec. 4

Cincinnati: St. Gertrude Priory on Dec. 6

Columbus, Ohio: St. Patrick Parish on Dec. 7–8

Louisville, Kentucky: St. Louis Bertrand on Dec. 10

Springfield, Kentucky: St. Rose Priory on Dec. 12

New York City: St. Vincent Ferrer on Dec. 14

Philadelphia: St. Patrick on Dec. 16

Baltimore: Sts. Philip and James on Dec. 18

Farm workers. / Credit: mikeledray/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 22, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

The national anti-poverty program run by U.S. bishops has released its annual report from 2023, revealing that it spent $11.4 million more than it collected.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Annual Report 2023 revealed that the program ended the year with a net operating deficit of $2,830,364 after spending more than the combined total of its $8,451,156 savings and the $7,284,574 in revenue it collected this year. 

The CCHD is a nationwide anti-poverty program run by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that raises money every year and allocates funding to charitable organizations that benefit the poor. 

In total, the organization dedicated to “breaking the cycle of poverty” spent $18,696,903 overall despite having just $15,735,730 in available funds after clearing out its accumulated assets.

Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, stated in the annual report that the various charitable projects that received CCHD funds mentioned represent “a small taste of how CCHD invested $7.3 million of [donor] gifts in grants in 2023 to help people help each other.” 

The CCHD has not published a list of grantees since 2022, though USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi told CNA this week that she expects CCHD’s 2023 grantee list to be “posted soon.” 

CCHD’s recent difficulties and past controversy

The CCHD annual report documenting its financial difficulties comes after its former director, Ralph McCloud, resigned from his position in April. In June, several USCCB social justice employees working for the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, which oversees CCHD, were laid off. Bishops had privately discussed the CCHD during its June plenary assembly ahead of the layoffs. 

Noguchi told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, at the time that the layoffs were part of a “reorganization” geared toward enabling the conference to “align resources more closely with recent funding trends.” 

“The CCHD subcommittee will continue its work,” she continued, adding: “In the interest of good stewardship, the administration of the collection is being reorganized to allow for more efficient management.”

McCloud is now a fellow at a social justice political advocacy group called NETWORK, which was founded by Catholic Sisters in 1972. 

Over the years the program has generated controversy and criticism. Beginning in 2008, the CCHD was faulted by activists — and some Catholic bishops — for funding organizations that have taken positions contrary to Church teaching, such as on abortion and same-sex marriage.

In 2010, the USCCB instituted new controls to help ensure that grantees conform with Catholic teaching.

President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Freedom to former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, photographed here with Kirk Adams and First Lady Jill Biden, in a photo posted to his X account, Nov. 20, 2024. / Credit: President Joe Biden/X

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 22, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor in the country — to Cecile Richards, an abortion activist who was the president of Planned Parenthood for more than a decade.

Although the Medal of Freedom is often awarded in a public ceremony, the president gave the medal to Richards in a private ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 20. This is the 37th person to whom Biden awarded the Medal of Freedom but the first who is known primarily for abortion advocacy.

“With absolute courage, [Richards] fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are — a nation of freedom,” Biden, the second Catholic president in American history, said in a post on X late Wednesday afternoon.

“Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote, she has carved an inspiring legacy,” Biden added.

Richards reposted the president’s remarks on her X account, thanking Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for “all you’ve done to support women’s health and rights.”

“Such an honor representing abortion rights and the need for health care for all,” Richards said.

Richards was the president of Planned Parenthood from February 2006 until she stepped down in April 2018. The number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood increased by more than 10% during her tenure. In 2006, the organization performed 289,750 abortions but increased that number to 321,384 abortions in 2016.

Planned Parenthood abortionists completed about 320,000 abortions each year during her time as president, which amounts to more than 3 million abortions under her leadership.

According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is reserved for people “who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavors.”

Earlier this year, Richards announced that she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer — the same type of cancer that claimed the life of Biden’s son Beau in 2015.

Biden’s views on abortion have shifted during his career. The president began serving his first term in the Senate in 1973, just days before the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal nationwide. At the time, Biden criticized the decision. He gradually moved toward a staunch pro-abortion stance over the next 50 years in politics.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned during his presidency in June 2022, Biden vowed to codify a national right to abortion into federal law and supported ending the prohibition on federal tax money directly paying for abortion. 

During his presidency, the Biden administration sought to scale back religious freedom protections in abortion laws and moved to expand surgical abortion through the Department of Health and Human Services and chemical abortion through federal regulations. Other policies included funding for overseas organizations that promote abortion and a policy at the U.S. Department of Defense to fund abortion travel costs for service members and their families.

President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated president on Jan. 20, 2025, opposes federal restrictions on abortion, and he supports leaving abortion law to the states. He has vowed to protect religious freedom and is open to reenacting the federal ban on overseas abortion funding.

On Wednesday, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), penned an op-ed with the Wall Street Journal, which stated they will recommend ending federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

Biden’s support for abortion has put him at odds with Catholic bishops and the pope on the issue of life.

In April, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” and said that Biden “picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts … especially in terms of the life issues.”

“There is a phrase that we have used in the past, a ‘cafeteria Catholic,’ [in which] you choose that which is attractive and dismiss that which is challenging,” Gregory said.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, accused Biden of “making a mockery of our Catholic faith” in May after the president made the sign of the cross while promoting abortion.

In 2022, Pope Francis said Biden should “talk to his pastor about that incoherence” when talking about Biden supporting abortion even though he is a Catholic.

Missouri’s bishops are urging the state to forgo executing a Christopher Collings, who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Collings is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections

St. Louis, Mo., Nov 22, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

Missouri’s bishops are urging the state to forgo executing a man next month who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture, and murder of a 9-year-old girl.

Police said Christopher Collings confessed to killing Rowan Ford after raping her on Nov. 3, 2007. The murder took place in rural Stella, Missouri, in the far southwest corner of the state. 

Collings’ confession, which became a key piece of evidence at his trial, allegedly took place during an unrecorded conversation with now-deceased Police Chief Clinton Clark. Collings’ attorneys have argued that the prosecution suppressed information about Clark’s alleged criminal history that would have been relevant to the trial. 

Ford’s stepfather also admitted to playing a primary role in the crime, though he was ultimately only charged with lesser offenses and eventually released from prison. 

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in April announced that his office had requested that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Collings, claiming “no court has ever found any legal errors” with his conviction.

Barring an intervention from the Missouri Supreme Court or the governor, Collings will be executed on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, is urging Catholics to contact the governor to express their opposition to Collings’ execution.

“The death and other circumstances of Rowan’s murder are tragic and abhorrent, and though her death was a great injustice, it still would also be an injustice if the state carries out a man’s execution in lieu of confining him to life imprisonment,” the bishops said in a statement.

“The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life,” they said.

The bishops said that citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

The change reflects a development of Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty “cruel and unnecessary,” encouraged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life” and said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”

Missouri is among the most prolific of all U.S. states when it comes to the death penalty; it was one of only five states to carry out executions in 2023, carrying out four that year. 

Outgoing Republican Gov. Mike Parson has never granted clemency to a death row inmate during his governorship. In April Parson denied death row inmate Brian Dorsey’s clemency request despite protests from Catholics and others, clearing the way for the state’s first execution of 2024. 

In September Missouri executed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams for the brutal murder of a St. Louis journalist in 1998 despite doubts about Williams’ guilt. 

null / Credit: maxim ibragimov/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

Abortions dropped sharply in Iowa immediately after a strict abortion ban went into effect there, according to data from a major pro-abortion group. 

Data from the Guttmacher Institute, released on Thursday, show an average of 400 clinician-provided abortions per month in Iowa over the first six months of 2024. 

After the state’s six-week ban went into effect on July 29, “the number of abortions dropped to an estimated 250 in August, a decrease of 38% from the average over the first six months of the year,” Guttmacher said. 

The abortions in the dataset “include procedural abortions as well as medication abortions obtained via telehealth” both in and out of Iowa, Guttmacher said. 

The Guttmacher Institute advocates in favor of abortion; the organization indicated that the data show some Iowa women “may have been forced to continue their [pregnancies]” under the new law. 

The Catholic Church in Iowa earlier this year celebrated the June decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found abortion is “not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution.” That ruling allowed the heartbeat law to take effect. 

“For us, this is a question of the common good and human dignity. Human life is precious and should be protected in our laws to the greatest extent possible,” the state’s bishops said. 

The Iowa figures reflect similar drops in abortion seen around the country in the wake of shifting abortion laws. 

Legal abortions in the United States decreased by more than 6% in the first six months that followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade. 

The average number of monthly abortions decreased from 82,270 in the two months before Roe v. Wade was overturned to 77,073 in the six months that followed the decision. 

Similarly, the fertility rate in Texas rose by a statistically significant amount in the wake of the state’s pro-life laws, a University of Houston study revealed in January.

A 2023 study found that Texas’ six-week abortion ban led to nearly 9,800 more births in the state over a nine-month period than otherwise expected.

Earlier this year, on the other hand, the American Medical Association said data indicated a significant increase in unsupervised abortion attempts from 2021 to 2023. 

The researchers in that study, some of whom had ties to Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion ACLU, alleged that pro-life laws were driving the spike in unsupervised abortions. 

Police are searching for a thief who entered the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street in Manhattan on Nov. 20, 2024, and stole a gold rose that memorializes a priest who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. / Credit: Courtesy of NYPD

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

Police are searching for a thief who entered a Manhattan Catholic church this week and stole a gold rose that memorializes a priest who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

Police said in a release that on Wednesday afternoon an individual entered the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street and “removed a gold-plated metal rose from the 9/11 memorial inside without permission or authority to do so.”

The suspect on Friday was identified as 21-year-old Deikel Alcantara. The incident was being treated as an act of grand larceny. In New York State, grand larceny involves the theft of property worth at least $1,000. 

Father Brian Jordan, the church’s pastor, told the New York Daily News on Thursday that Alcantara was “known to church staffers and had been asked to leave on several occasions,” the newspaper said. 

For years, the memorial has stood in honor of Father Mychal Judge, a former pastor at St. Francis who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. Judge was struck and killed by debris during the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. 

The priest had rushed to the scene of the crisis after the first plane struck. He was reportedly asked by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pray for the victims who had initially died in the attack; Judge did so, including at a command post inside the North Tower.

Though not the first to die in the crisis, Judge was designated as “Victim 0001” of the day’s mass murder, becoming the first certified victim of the terror attack. He “refused to flee to safety” before the South Tower’s collapse, Giuliani said in a memorial tribute last year. 

The memorial is also dedicated to Carole LaPlante, a secular Franciscan and former parishioner who died in the attack. 

The small monument inside the church incorporates a section of twisted steel beams pulled from the wreckage of the World Trade Center after its collapse, along with the gold rose. 

A plaque attached to the monument notes that the rose “transcends the senseless brutality” of the attacks “with an enduring promise of hope.”

null / Credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 22, 2024 / 09:10 am (CNA).

American Catholic bishops are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reject a proposed “gender identity” rule that could make faithful Catholic entities ineligible for contracts with the department.

The HHS has proposed a rule to prohibit “discrimination” against a person based on his or her “sexual orientation” and self-assigned “gender identity” in the administration of all HHS services and programs. The proposed language does not state what actions or policies would constitute discrimination.

According to the proposal, which is undergoing a public comment period, any entity that submits a bid for a contract must “comply with the requirements of this policy” if that contract is awarded. The proposed language does not include any religious exemptions for the nondiscrimination rules.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) electronically submitted a public comment to HHS requesting that the department reject the proposal. The prelates argued the language is ambiguous and could force entities in health-related contracts to provide transgender drugs and surgeries to adults and children with gender dysphoria, even if the entity has a religious or moral objection.

In their public comment, the bishops also expressed concern that the language could force entities in HHS contracts to provide counseling that affirms a person’s homosexual attraction, even if that entity has a religious or moral objection.

“The preamble provides no explanation of how this nondiscrimination requirement will be construed, or will work in practice, as applied to the various programs and services that HHS administers and for which it enters into contracts,” the USCCB comment stated.

Depending on how the proposed rule is enforced, it could force Catholic entities to either violate their religious beliefs or forgo contracts with HHS altogether. 

The rule would apply to Catholic hospitals that accept patients on Medicare and Medicaid, which are two programs overseen by HHS. It would also apply to Catholic entities that partner with HHS on social services, such as foster care, adoption, and assistance to migrants.

This would not be the first time that HHS under President Joe Biden’s administration has sought to force Catholic entities to violate their religious beliefs.

In 2022, HHS promulgated a rule that sought to force all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide abortions if they constituted a “stabilizing treatment” under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked the enforcement of this rule and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the administration’s appeal.

An appellate court ruled in August 2022 that HHS could not force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions or provide transgender drugs and surgeries to adults and minors based on its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on “sex discrimination.”

The public comment period for the proposed HHS rule ends on Dec. 2 of this year, after which the department will consider the public’s suggestions. It will then decide whether to adopt the rule. 

Even if the rule is adopted, it would likely be quickly discarded after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20 of next year. 

The president-elect has been critical of what he calls “transgender insanity,” has backed a federal ban on transgender surgeries for minors, and has said he “will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female” and support religious freedom.

Trump intends to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS. That appointment will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Georgetown University President John DeGioia attends a ceremony at which an honorary degree was bestowed on AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Sept. 3, 2009, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The longest-serving president in Georgetown University history, John DeGioia, is stepping down after 23 years to recover after suffering a stroke. 

DeGioia, who served as the 48th president of the Jesuit university in Washington, D.C., noted in a letter that stepping down was “the most difficult decision I have ever made.” 

He explained in his letter that he is retiring “to devote my energies to my ongoing recovery” from his recent stroke in June. DeGioia will remain on staff as a member of the faculty, according to a Thursday announcement by the university.

“Serving as the president of Georgetown has been the privilege of my lifetime,” DeGioia stated. “I look forward to continuing to advance and support Georgetown’s mission and the university community that means so much to all of us. I remain deeply proud of the work we have done together to strengthen the Georgetown community, our nation, and our world.”

DeGioia graduated from Georgetown with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1979 and a doctorate in philosophy in 1995. When he became president in 2001, DeGioia became the first layperson to lead a Jesuit college or university in the U.S.

“With DeGioia’s vision, Georgetown has grown new and existing academic programs, deepened opportunities for student learning and engagement, and advanced Georgetown’s mission of education and service globally,” the university press release stated.

DeGioia oversaw the establishment of a new campus in Qatar in 2005 as well as the formation of the McCourt School of Public Policy in 2013. He oversaw an increase in the financial aid budget to $284 million and endowment growth from $700 million in 2001 to $3.6 billion in 2024. 

Chair of the Georgetown board of directors Thomas Reynolds III said that under DeGioia’s leadership, the university “has grown and flourished as a global leader in higher education.”

“It is hard to put in words the depth of Jack’s impact at Georgetown,” Reynolds said. “Since first arriving on campus as an undergraduate student in 1975, Jack has spent his entire career at Georgetown and has helped shape every facet of the university.”

DeGioia “guided many new efforts to engage Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity,” according to the university press release. 

In his letter, DeGioia noted the importance of the university’s role in the world in light of “our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution.” 

Early in his presidency, DeGioia established the role of vice president for Mission and Ministry, designed to deepen Ignatian spirituality at the university. DeGioia collaborated with the Vatican and visited Rome annually to engage with Catholic leaders. He helped establish the university’s Initiative of Catholic Social Thought and Public Life in 2013 to build dialogue and encourage young Catholic leaders in their faith. 

“I am grateful to many who have guided us in this work and who have enlivened our tradition in new ways so that Ignatian spirituality and our Catholic and Jesuit identity are ever more present to our university community,” he wrote.

Under DeGioia, Georgetown became the first Catholic university to open an LGBTQ resource center in 2008. 

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who served as a board member under DeGioia, noted in a post on X on Thursday that DeGioia was “one of the very earliest supporters of my LGBTQ ministry and OutreachCatholic,” a controversial pro-LGBT group.

Under DeGioia’s leadership, Georgetown renovated sacred spaces for Orthodox Christian and Catholic communities while expanding the Jewish gathering space on campus and opening a mosque on campus as well as “Dharmālaya,” a Dharmic mediation center. 

In 2023, Georgetown became the first Catholic and Jesuit university to establish a Disability Cultural Center. 

DeGioia also oversaw Georgetown’s “ongoing work on racial justice,” the press release noted. DeGioa in 2015 publicly apologized for Georgetown staff, the Maryland Province of Jesuits, who owned and sold more than 250 slaves in the 1830s. 

“Georgetown is a place where we — continuously, rigorously, and collectively — pursue truth,” DeGioia continued in his letter. “We commit to the formation of our students, to the inquiry of our faculty, and to the common good of our communities."

Robert Groves, Georgetown’s current provost and executive vice president, will serve as interim president while the board of directors searches for a new president. The vice president and chief of staff to DeGioia, Joseph Ferrara, will serve as senior vice president and chief of staff.