BALTIMORE - At their November Plenary Assembly, the bishops of the United States held a canonical consultation on a possible cause of beatification and canonization for Reverend Richard M. Thomas, a priest of the Society of Jesus. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance, and Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, facilitated the discussion by the bishops. With 206 votes in favor, 4 votes against, and 1 abstention, the bishops affirmed their support for the advancement of the cause of beatification and canonization on the diocesan level.

The following brief biography of Father Richard Thomas, SJ, was drawn from information provided by the Diocese of Las Cruces:

Richard Thomas was born on March 1, 1928, in Seffner, Florida. He was educated in Catholic schools and graduated from Jesuit High School in Tampa. He entered the Jesuit order in 1945, and was ordained to the priesthood in San Francisco, California in 1958. In 1964, he was assigned to lead Our Lady’s Youth Center in El Paso, Texas, a ministry to the poor in south El Paso. He expanded the reach of Our Lady’s Youth Center to New Mexico and across the border to areas of Juarez, Mexico. 

On Christmas Day in 1972, prompted after reading Luke 14:12-14 where Jesus tells his followers to invite the poor - not their rich friends - to dine, Father Thomas invited a prayer group from El Paso to join him in serving dinner to the poor who lived and worked at a garbage dump in Juarez, Mexico. While Father Thomas and his group only took enough food to feed 150 people, more than 300 people came to dinner and each was served a full meal. With leftovers that were donated to three orphanages after the dinner, the group later realized that the Lord had multiplied the food; the event prompted the group to not only return to the garbage dump on a regular basis, but also led them to advocate for better income for the trash pickers, and start additional ministries to the poor such as food banks, a prisoner outreach program, a medical and dental clinic, and student scholarship assistance. It is said that while Father Thomas believed in miracles such as what happened at the Christmas dinner in 1972, he did not assign them a central place in his work or his message; instead, he chose to see them as ways that God would occasionally intervene to encourage and guide Christians to do His will. Father Thomas considered it the duty of every Christian to share with the poor and preached on Catholic social teaching and living out the Gospel values taught by Christ. 

As a gifted preacher and teacher, Father Thomas was a sought-after speaker and gave talks at conferences, seminars, and workshops around the world, and had a special charism in mobilizing lay people to get involved in the Church and in helping the poor in their local area. Father Thomas lived the virtue of fortitude heroically, having the courage of his convictions and courageously facing the opposition that arose as he did what he felt God was calling him to do. He also lived the virtue of justice in an extraordinary way. Working for a just society and championing people who were victims of inequality or oppression was an ever-present emphasis of his ministry. In trying to live a just life and work for justice for others, Fr. Thomas lived an ascetic lifestyle, profoundly exemplifying the virtue of temperance: he slept on an army cot or on the floor, lived without heating or cooling in the houses or cars he used, wore his clothes until they were threadbare, and gave away many things of his that the poor needed.

Father Richard Thomas died on May 8, 2006, in Las Cruces, after several years of declining health including a battle with cancer. He was laid to rest in the Jesuit plot of Concordia Cemetery in El Paso and leaves behind a legacy of a strong commitment to social justice and an unwavering obedience to God's word. 

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CNA Staff, Nov 11, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Nov. 11, the Catholic Church honors St. Martin of Tours, who left his post in the Roman army to become a “soldier of Christ.”

Martin was born around the year 316 in modern-day Hungary. His family left that region for Italy when his father, a military official of the Roman Empire, was transferred there. Martin’s parents were pagans, but he felt an attraction to the Catholic faith, which had become legal throughout the empire in 313. He received religious instruction at age 10 and even considered becoming a hermit in the desert.

Circumstances, however, forced Martin to join the Roman army at age 15, when he had not even received baptism. Martin strove to live a humble and upright life in the military, giving away much of his pay to the poor. His generosity led to a life-changing incident, when he encountered a man freezing without warm clothing near a gate at the city of Amiens in Gaul.

As his fellow soldiers passed by the man, Martin stopped and cut his own cloak into two halves with his sword, giving one half to the freezing beggar. That night, the unbaptized soldier saw Christ in a dream, wearing the half-cloak he had given to the poor man. Jesus declared: “Martin, a catechumen, has clothed me with this garment.”

Martin knew that the time for him to join the Church had arrived. After his baptism, he remained in the army for two years but desired to give his life to God more fully than the profession would allow. But when he finally asked for permission to leave the Roman army, during an invasion by the Germans, Martin was accused of cowardice.

He responded by offering to stand before the enemy forces unarmed. “In the name of the Lord Jesus, and protected not by a helmet and buckler but by the sign of the cross, I will thrust myself into the thickest squadrons of the enemy without fear.”

But this display of faith became unnecessary when the Germans sought peace instead, and Martin received his discharge.

After living as a Catholic for some time, Martin traveled to meet Bishop Hilary of Poitiers, a skilled theologian and later canonized saint. Martin’s dedication to the faith impressed the bishop, who asked the former soldier to return to his diocese after he had undertaken a journey back to Hungary to visit his parents. While there, Martin persuaded his mother, though not his father, to join the Church.

In the meantime, however, Hilary had provoked the anger of the Arians, a group that denied Jesus was God. This resulted in the bishop’s banishment, so Martin could not return to his diocese as intended. Instead he spent some time living a life of severe asceticism, which almost resulted in his death. The two met up again in 360, when Hilary’s banishment from Poitiers ended.

After their reunion, Hilary granted Martin a piece of land to build what may have been the first monastery in the region of Gaul. During the resulting decade as a monk, Martin became renowned for raising two people from the dead through his prayers. This evidence of his holiness led to his appointment as the third bishop of Tours in the middle of present-day France.

Martin had not wanted to become a bishop and had actually been tricked into leaving his monastery in the first place by those who wanted him to the lead the local Church. Once appointed, he continued to live as a monk, dressing plainly and owning no personal possessions. In this same spirit of sacrifice, he traveled throughout his diocese, from which he is said to have driven out pagan practices.

Both the Church and the Roman Empire passed through a time of upheaval during Martin’s tenure as bishop. Priscillianism, a heresy involving salvation through a system of secret knowledge, caused such serious problems in Spain and Gaul that civil authorities sentenced the heretics to death. But Martin, along with the pope and St. Ambrose of Milan, opposed this death sentence for the Priscillianists.

Even in old age, Martin continued to live an austere life focused on the care of souls. His disciple and biographer, St. Sulpicius Severus, noted that the bishop helped all people with their moral, intellectual, and spiritual problems. He also helped many discover their calling to the consecrated life.

Martin foresaw his own death and told his disciples of it. But when his last illness came upon him during a pastoral journey, he felt uncertain about leaving his people.

“Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I refuse no labor. Thy holy will be done,” he prayed. He developed a fever but did not sleep, passing his last several nights in the presence of God in prayer.

“Allow me, my brethren, to look rather toward heaven than upon the earth, that my soul may be directed to take its flight to the Lord to whom it is going,” he told his followers, shortly before he died in November 397.

St. Martin of Tours has historically been among the most beloved saints in the history of Europe. In a 2007 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope “that all Christians may be like St. Martin, generous witnesses of the Gospel of love and tireless builders of jointly responsible sharing.”

This story was first published on Oct. 6, 2011, and has been updated.

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 18:32 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has revealed the names of Pope Leo XIV’s favorite films, including “The Sound of Music” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” upon announcing the Holy Father’s upcoming meeting with the world of cinema on Saturday, Nov. 15.

In total, the Vatican shared four titles of the “most significant films” for Leo XIV:

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946) by Frank Capra

The Christmas classic stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has sacrificed his dreams because of his sense of responsibility and generosity but feeling like a failure, he contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve. This prompts the intervention of his guardian angel (Henry Travers), who shows him all the good he has done for many people. 

‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) by Robert Wise

The film tells the story of a postulant at a convent in Austria in 1938.  After discerning out, the postulant (Julie Andrews) is sent to the home of Captain Von Trapp, a widowed retired naval officer (Christopher Plummer) to be the governess of his seven children. After bringing love and music to the Von Trapp family, she eventually marries the captain. As Von Tapp refuses to accept a commission in the Nazi navy, the family is forced to leave Austria in a dramatic escape. 

‘Ordinary People’ (1980) by Robert Redford

The film tells the story of the breakdown of a wealthy Illinois family after the death of one son in an accident and the suicide attempt of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.

‘Life Is Beautiful’ (1997) by Roberto Benigni

In this film, Benigni — whose father spent two years in a prisoner-of-war camp — plays Guido Orefice, an Italian Jewish bookstore owner who uses his imagination to protect his young son from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

Nov. 15 meeting with the world of cinema 

The meeting will take place on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 11 a.m. Rome time in the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City, according to a statement from the Dicastery for Culture and Education, in collaboration with the Vatican Museums.

The event follows previous meetings with the world of visual arts (June 2023), comedy (June 2024), and the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture in February of this year.

The Vatican statement highlights that Pope Leo XIV “has expressed his desire to deepen the dialogue with the world of cinema, and in particular with actors and directors, exploring the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values.”

Actors and directors the pope will meet

Among those who have already confirmed their participation are the Italian actresses Monica Bellucci, famous for her role as Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” and Maria Grazia Cucinotta (“Il Postino” and “The World Is Not Enough.”)

Also joining the Holy Father will be, among others, American actress Cate Blanchett (“The Lord of the Rings,” “The Aviator”), the African-American director Spike Lee, the director Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting,” “Elephant”), the Australian director George Miller, creator of the Mad Max saga, and the Italian Giuseppe Tornatore, director of “Cinema Paradiso,” for which he won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1989.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

As hard as war is, often the hardest part is coming home. Life and family have moved on, and the way you see the world—and yourself—has fundamentally changed. Marine veteran and classicist Karl Marlantes, in his book What It Is Like to Go to War, describes this transformation through the ancient lens of the Temple ... Read more

We could feel tremors before the break, the shift in how she spoke, in how she treated others. We could see her heart hardening toward God, toward the Church, toward us. Some would say that’s adolescence, but it always felt like more. Praying, engaging, hugging, creating special time—we did all of that, and it kept ... Read more

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 18:12 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a request to overturn its 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage. 

Kim Davis, a Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk from 2015 through 2019, petitioned the Supreme Court in July to reconsider the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which legalized same-sex civil marriages nationally.

Davis requested the court also hear her case 10 years later after she made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She served multiple days in jail for contempt of court for violating a judicial order to issue the marriage licenses.

Davis was ordered to pay more than $360,000 in damages and legal fees for violating a same-sex couples’ right to marry. After lower courts rejected her claim that the the Constitution’s First Amendment right to free exercise of religion protected her in the case, she appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration did not weigh in on the case as the Supreme Court considered whether to take up the matter. The Supreme Court made the decision to reject the request on Nov. 10 and has made no comment on the matter. 

The issue with claiming violation to religious freedom is that Davis “was not acting as a private citizen, exercising her right to … religion, she was acting as a public official,” said Thomas Jipping, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation. 

“The First Amendment applies differently with regard to the actions of public officials than private individuals,” said Jipping in a Nov. 10 interview with “EWTN News Nightly.” Davis “was acting in her official capacity as a county clerk, and that’s a very different legal question.” 

Jipping said Davis’ situation was not the “right case” to reach the Supreme Court and reverse Obergefell v. Hodges because it was not a case in which someone challenged a state legislature’s law in conflict with the precedent.

Mary Rice Hasson, Kate O’Beirne senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA she agreed the case was not the right vehicle to reconsider the Obergefell decision.

“As Catholics, our energies will be better spent explaining and promoting the truth about marriage and sexuality to our children and fellow Catholics rather than hoping for a reversal of Obergefell,” Hasson said.

Many American Catholics support the legalization of same-sex civil marriages at about the same rate as the broader population. According to a 2024 Pew poll, about 70% of self-identified Catholics said they support same-sex marriage, which was slightly higher than the population as a whole.

Hasson said: “It’s a scandal that 70% of self-described Catholics support so-called same-sex ‘marriage.’”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator.”

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2025 / 17:52 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will select its president and vice president Nov. 11 during the Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore.

Bishops will choose both positions from a slate of 10 candidates nominated by their fellow bishops. The incumbent president and vice president — Archbishop Timothy Broglio and Archbishop William Lori — will step down from their roles as their three-year terms expire.

To be elected, the bishop must receive a majority of the voting bishops. After the president is selected from the 10-person slate, the vice president will be chosen from the nine remaining candidates. Candidates for president include:

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

Archbishop Paul Coakley already holds a leadership role in the USCCB, serving as the secretary.

Although the USCCB vice president is usually the front-runner, the 74-year-old Lori is ineligible for the role because he reaches retirement age next year. This was also the case for the vice president in the previous election in 2022, when the bishops chose then-Secretary Broglio. 

Coakley is 70 years old and has served in his archdiocese for nearly 15 years. He has been a bishop since 2004. He has a licentiate in sacred theology. 

The archbishop has defended a culture of life, speaking out against both abortion and the death penalty. In 2023, he wrote a pastoral letter in which he expressed concerns with the rise in gender dysphoria and the promotion of gender ideology. In February of this year, he criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts and also said countries have a right to protect their borders.

Bishop Robert E. Barron, Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota

Bishop Robert Barron may be the most well-known contender, particularly due to his media presence and Word on Fire ministry.

Barron chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth. He also serves on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. He has a master’s degree in philosophy and a licentiate in sacred theology.

Much of Barron’s career has focused on evangelizing the public and helping catechize Catholics, including youth. He has condemned the growing secularism and relativism in modern society and has called for Christianity to be more present in the public square. He has criticized gender ideology and abortion.

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville, Texas

Bishop Daniel Flores, former president of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, is the only southern-border bishop in contention for the role of president, serving the southernmost diocese in Texas.

Flores, who is 64 years old, holds a doctorate in sacred theology and is a former theology professor. He has been a bishop since 2006. He was one of 12 bishops to serve on the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod on Synodality and is a strong promoter of synodality in the Church. 

In 2017, Flores said support for mass deportations is “formal cooperation with an intrinsic evil,” similar to driving someone to an abortion clinic. He has expressed concern about polarization in the Church and urged “civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil.”

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades, Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana

Bishop Kevin Rhoades is the chair of the USCCB Committee on Religious Liberty and serves on an advisory board for Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. He has been outspoken on religious freedom issues and opposition to abortion.

Rhoades, who is 67 years old, became a bishop in 2004. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology and a licentiate in canon law. 

Rhoades has been critical of government policies that impose mandates related to abortion and contraception on religious organizations and businesses. In 2024, he said: “No employer should be forced to participate in an employee’s decision to end the life of their child.”

This year, his committee laid out concerns about bills that promote gender ideology which could threaten religious liberty in its annual report. It also expressed concerns about immigration policies when religious organizations, such as Annunciation House, are put in the crosshairs.

Archbishop Alexander K. Sample, Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon

Archbishop Alexander Sample, who has defended pro-life values and the Traditional Latin Mass, has served as a bishop since 2013. 

The archbishop, who is 65 years old, has a licentiate in canon law. 

Sample has been a staunch opponent of abortion and last year criticized Oregon’s governor for creating an “appreciation day” for abortionists. He criticized “the idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. He has strongly criticized gender ideology as well. 

The archbishop has celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass and has sought to follow the Vatican guidelines on those celebrations without causing major disruptions to Latin Mass communities. He has praised efforts to revive reverence and focus on the Eucharist. 

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Archbishop Nelson Pérez, who chairs the board of Catholic Relief Services, has sought to bring back lapsed Catholics, which includes outreach efforts to the youth and Latinos. 

Pérez is 64 years old and became a bishop in 2012. 

The archbishop this year announced a 10-year plan to bring lapsed Catholics back to Mass, which includes the creation of “missionary hubs” throughout the archdiocese. The hubs are meant to “address the distinct needs and priorities of the people living within the neighborhoods of that parish and beyond,” he said. 

Pérez has also called for solidarity with immigrants and expressed concerns about Trump’s mass deportation efforts. He strongly promotes pro-life values and criticizes abortion.

Bishop David J. Malloy, Diocese of Rockford

Bishop David Malloy, former chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, has promoted peace in international affairs and has been critical of abortion and euthanasia.

Malloy, who is 69 years old, became a bishop in 2012 and holds a licentiate in canon law and a doctorate in theology. 

The bishop has condemned the creation of and continued threat of nuclear weapons and urged the U.S. government to promote dialogue and peace amid conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. He has also expressed concerns about climate change and pollution. 

Malloy has consistently opposed abortion and praised the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He has vocally criticized legislative efforts to legalize euthanasia in Illinois.

Archbishop Richard G. Henning, Archdiocese of Boston

Archbishop Richard Henning, who serves on the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs in the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, has promoted Eucharistic revival, criticized abortion, and called for Catholics to show solidarity with migrants.

Henning, who is 61 years old, became a bishop in 2018. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology and a doctorate in theology.

The archbishop celebrated a Mass at the National Eucharistic Congress last year and said the sense of unity with the Lord and with each other has been most powerful.

He has expressed concern about the increase in immigration enforcement and reiterated the USCCB’s call to show solidarity with migrants. In 2023, he urged Catholics to pray for the defense of unborn lives amid legislative efforts to support taxpayer funded abortion.

Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger, Archdiocese of Detroit

Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, who has been a bishop since 2012, is vocal in support for migrants, has expressed concerns about climate change, and has restricted celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Weisenburger, who is 64 years old, holds a licentiate in canon law. 

The archbishop took part in a pro-migrant march this year that concluded at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. He authored an op-ed in America Magazine in which he criticized Trump’s plan for mass deportations and called for “a new approach to immigration policy must begin by recognizing the humanity of the immigrant.”

Weisenburger strongly promoted Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Daily Star: “We must not resign ourselves to just surviving a climate-disrupted world. We can and must stabilize the climate. But doing so will require the commitment of individuals as well as entire populations.

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Archdiocese of Indianapolis

Archbishop Charles Thompson, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, has spoken out against same-sex civil marriage, gender ideology and abortion, and supports the Eucharistic revival.

Thompson, who is 64 years old, was made a bishop in 2011. He holds a licentiate in canon law. 

The archbishop in 2019 stripped a Jesuit Catholic school of the label “Catholic” after it defied his order to not renew a contract for a teacher who was in a same-sex civil marriage. He praised the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and urged governments to pass laws to protect unborn life.

Thompson has emphasized the importance of reverence and adoration for the Eucharist, saying “it’s so important for us to understand that the Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.”

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 17:26 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has officially released the documentary “Leo from Chicago” about the life of Pope Leo XIV in the United States, coinciding with the sixth month of the pontificate of the first American and Peruvian pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

The documentary premiered Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. Rome time and was screened at the Vatican Film Library for journalists accredited to the Holy See Press Office. At 6 p.m. Rome time it was published on the Vatican News YouTube channels in English, Italian, and Spanish, according to a statement from the Dicastery for Communication.

The documentary was produced by the Dicastery for Communication in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Apostolado El Sembrador Nueva Evangelización (The Sower New Evangelization Apostolate.)

The project was led by journalists Deborah Castellano Lubov, Salvatore Cernuzio, and Felipe Herrera-Espaliat, with editing by Jaime Vizcaíno Haro. It shows various locations, including the Dolton neighborhood in suburban Chicago where the pope lived with his family, and features the memories and stories of the Holy Father’s brothers, Louis Martin and John Prevost.

Also featured are the offices, schools, and parishes run by the Augustinians, the Catholic Theological Union study center, and places frequented by Robert Prevost, such as Aurelio’s Pizza and Rate Field, the White Sox baseball stadium.

The overview includes scenes from Villanova University near Philadelphia and Port Charlotte, Florida, where the pope’s older brother lives.

The documentary features some 30 testimonies from people who knew Leo XIV in his childhood and youth; for example, when he marched in Washington, D.C., to support the pro-life cause. 

“Leo from Chicago” is the documentary that follows “Leo from Peru,” released in June, about the pope’s years in the South American country.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

CNA Staff, Nov 10, 2025 / 16:36 pm (CNA).

Paul Badde, author of many well-known books such as “Benedict Up Close,” “The Face of God,” and “The True Icon,” died Monday morning after a long illness.

Vatican City, Nov 10, 2025 / 16:06 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV warned Monday that artificial intelligence could exacerbate “antihuman ideologies” in medicine as Catholic doctors and moral theologians raise alarms about the future of AI in health care.

In a message on Nov. 10 to an international congress on “Artificial Intelligence and Medicine: The Challenge of Human Dignity,” hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Life, the pope said that ensuring “true progress” in medicine depends on keeping the dignity of every human at the forefront.

“It is easy to recognize the destructive potential of technology and even medical research when they are placed at the service of antihuman ideologies,” Leo XIV said.

Leo added that those responsible for integrating AI into medicine must remember that “health care professionals have the vocation and responsibility to be guardians and servants of human life, especially in its most vulnerable stages.”

“Indeed, the greater the fragility of human life, the greater the nobility required of those entrusted with its care,” he said.

The pope’s message came a day after another of his statements on the ethics of AI led to controversy on the social media platform X. Tech billionaire Marc Andreessen posted a mocking reference to Leo’s call on the AI industry “to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life.” After a pileup of critical replies, Andreessen apparently deleted his own post.

Pro-life concerns over AI billing in medical insurance  

The pope’s remarks on Monday come amid growing concern among Catholic doctors about how artificial intelligence could shape access to care and respect for human dignity in health care systems worldwide.

Dr. Kathleen Berchelmann, a pediatrician and founder of My Catholic Doctor, a telehealth network that connects families seeking Catholic care with like-minded providers, told CNA she is alarmed by how insurance companies are deploying AI in the U.S.

She said AI-driven billing systems are “further pushing pro-life health care providers out of the insurance market to the self-pay market, reducing access to pro-life health care in America.”

“What I see in AI and health care is a technology arms race,” Berchelmann said. “And unfortunately, the people with the big money have higher tech, and … that’s the insurance companies. That’s United Health Care, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Elevance Health, Aetna, Cigna. … These are the companies that are putting billions into utilization management, which means denials.”

On Oct. 1, Aetna and Cigna implemented AI-automated payments nationwide, a move that has led to what critics call “downcoding,” where insurers automatically downgrade doctors’ claims to lower reimbursement levels without reviewing visit details.

“In particular, in pro-life health care, we’re seeing automatic downcoding because restorative reproductive medicine, which is health care that finds root cause of infertility and treats the root cause, takes more time than a brief workup and a referral to IVF,” Berchelmann said.

“That extended time requires a higher coding. But if I do a real quick workup, I can build a lower code for that. So the predictive AI doesn’t recognize that I’m doing a better job in finding root cause of disease,” she added.

Berchelmann said she sees “tremendous potential for AI in terms of diagnostic capacity and clinical use” and hopes predictive models will demonstrate that “pro-life health care is so much cheaper than IVF.” But for now, she said, “insurance companies, employers paying for health care, and pharmaceutical companies with insurance, are all heavily using AI to not pay for your care.” 

In his message, Pope Leo acknowledged the influence of economic interests in health care and technology. 

“Given the vast economic interests often at stake in the fields of medicine and technology, and the subsequent fight for control, it is essential to promote a broad collaboration among all those working in health care and politics that extends well beyond national borders,” the pope said.  

AI not a substitute for ‘human encounter’ in medicine 

Pope Leo underlined that “technological devices must never detract from the personal relationship between patients and health care providers.”

“If AI is to serve human dignity and the effective provision of health care, we must ensure that it truly enhances both interpersonal relationships and the care provided,” he said.

Leo described the new technological advancements brought by AI as “more pervasive” than those brought by the industrial revolution, noting their potential to alter “our understanding of situations and how we perceive ourselves and others.”

“We currently interact with machines as if they were interlocutors, and thus become almost an extension of them,” he said. “In this sense, we not only run the risk of losing sight of the faces of the people around us but of forgetting how to recognize and cherish all that is truly human.” 

The three-day Vatican conference on AI and medicine, running Nov. 10–12, is one of several in recent months addressing the ethics of AI — an issue Pope Leo XIV has signaled will be a priority in his pontificate.

At the Builders AI Forum in Rome last week, which addressed the challenge of AI for Catholics and Catholic institutions in a variety of fields, medical school professors, health care company executives, insurance company directors, medical chaplains, and entrepreneurs in the field came together to discuss and debate the future of AI in Catholic health care. 

Louis Kim, the former vice president of personal systems and AI at HP, shared that the consensus among these professionals at the end of the forum was that “AI may assist but must never substitute for human encounter [in Catholic health care] and must remain clearly identifiable as non-human so that the pastoral and sacramental integrity of care is preserved.” 

Daniel J. Daly, executive director of the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health and an associate professor of moral theology at Boston College, told CNA he is concerned that if AI models used in Catholic hospitals are only trained to maximize “efficiency and profit” it could lead to “a massive failure for Catholic health care.” 

“What I worry about is that what could happen in health care is that AI replaces that embodied witness to the kingdom of God,” Daly said. “That can never happen in Catholic health care, because Catholic health care is not just about medicine. It’s also about Jesus Christ and witnessing to his healing ministry that we see in the Scripture.” 

“I think the most important thing is that whatever the AI does, that it frees us to do the works of mercy, it doesn’t free us from the works of mercy,” he added. “That is, it doesn’t replace the embodied care and ministerial care that we provide through medicine.”