SW News: The Catholic Bishops are set to amend their official directives for American Catholic healthcare institutions mandating that these facilities not provide gender alteration treatment procedures and puberty-blocking drugs.

The vote, scheduled for one of the two public sessions during their Spring Plenary Council in Florida, could mark the beginning of a substantial change in the provision of health care in Catholic facilities nationwide. As one of many items on the agenda, the bishops will vote on whether to revise a part of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which provide authoritative guidance on certain moral issues that face Catholic health care today.

The revision could update the directive to align with a doctrinal note issued in March by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Doctrine. According to the Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body, modern technology has created "interventions that are injurious to the true flourishing of the human person."

The committee is set to make those changes necessary to provide clear and valuable guidance to Catholic health care services but with minimal changes to the directives. The prelates' upcoming vote comes against the backdrop of a report by the Lepanto Institute claiming that hospitals under the Catholic healthcare system perform gender-change surgeries and puberty-blocking procedures.

Meanwhile, the bishops are also urging Congress to adopt steps to promote affordable housing for families as inflation rates continue to increase. Archbishop Borys Gudziak, chairman of the Bishops Conference Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, requested the same in a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The letter also calls on lawmakers to protect the religious freedom of faith-based organizations assisting with housing.