Saint Joseph Catholic Church

At the beginning of his new series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV spoke this morning about Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (1965).

“The laws prohibit males—including males who ‘identify’ as females—from participating on female-only teams,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops noted in its brief in support of the state laws.

“These cases ask whether the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX forbids the States to create female-only athletic competitions,” the brief continued. “Neither does, and any other answer could prove catastrophic to Catholic institutions.”

SCOTUSblog reported that “a majority of the justices appeared to agree with the states that the laws can remain in place, even if it was not clear how broadly their ruling might sweep.”

Under a 1995 agreement, the Canadian province permits faith-based hospitals to operate in accord with their religious identity. A mother whose 34-year-old daughter suffered from cancer testified that a Catholic hospital’s refusal to euthanize her daughter was akin to watching a child being beaten up on a playground.

After a year of care at the Catholic hospital, her daughter was transferred to a hospice, where “the same day a doctor there helped her die,” the Vancouver Sun reported.