Please pray for the College of Cardinals and beware of misinformation!

The Cardinals electors entered the Sistine Chapel today, May 7, to elect a new pope. In recent history, conclaves have lasted between four and eleven ballots, or approximately two to four days. While that is the most likely range, this conclave could be surprisingly short or long. It's impossible to know for sure, contrary to the predictions of many media outlets and influencers.

For reliable information about the nature of the process, the Catholic News Service has published a helpful explainer.

Online Version Now Available:

 Create in Me a Pure Heart

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the USCCB's pastoral statement on the scourge of pornography, which is being published anew this year under the title Create in Me a Pure Heart. The online PDF version is available now! The tenth anniversary edition contains a new preface with practical recommendations to help pastors, lay leaders, families, educators, and civil leaders protect against pornography's many dangers.

Ascension Press will publish the new edition soon, so be sure to look for more information in next month's newsletter!

Legal/Policy Updates

Trump Administration - The Department of Health and Human Services released a comprehensive review of evidence regarding the risks posed to children and adolescents associated with "gender-affirming care". "The review highlights a growing body of evidence pointing to significant risks—including irreversible harms such as infertility—while finding very weak evidence of benefit."

Courts - A federal judge ruled that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) may not force Catholic employers to accommodate Biden-era "anti-discrimination" rules that would have violated the employers' religious liberty in the areas of abortion, IVF, and "LGBTQ anti-discrimination". According to the Catholic Benefits Association, the decision “granted permanent protection from the EEOC’s efforts to force Catholic employers and others to accommodate abortion, IVF, or surrogacy, and to eliminate single-sex spaces and adopt preferred pronouns.” The rules, in part, were an attempt to distort the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, on which the USCCB previously commented.