October 1, 2026
U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to make official a ban on gender-transitioning treatment for patients at Catholic hospitals.
From a Baltimore hotel ballroom, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions to their ethical and religious directives that guide the nation’s thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers.
More than one in seven patients in the U.S. are treated each day at Catholic hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association. Catholic hospitals are the only medical center in some communities.
Most Catholic health care institutions have taken a conservative approach and not offered gender-transitioning treatment, which may involve hormonal, psychological, and surgical treatments. The new directives will formalize that mandate. Bishops will have autonomy in making the directives into law for their dioceses.
“With regard to the gender ideology, I think it’s very important the church makes a strong statement here,” said Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese during the public discussion of the revised directives.
The Catholic Health Association thanked the bishops for incorporating much of the organization’s feedback into the directives. It said in a statement, “Catholic providers will continue to welcome those who seek medical care from us and identify as transgender. We will continue to treat these individuals with dignity and respect, which is consistent with Catholic social teaching and our moral obligation to serve everyone, particularly those who are marginalized.”
The new guidelines incorporate earlier documents on gender identity from the Vatican in 2024 and the U.S. bishops in 2023.
In the 2023 doctrinal note, titled “Moral Limits to the Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” the bishops specified: “Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex, or take part in the development of such procedures.”
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