The United States Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in two cases that will determine the constitutionality of Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act and West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act.

“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.”

The British Columbia Supreme Court is considering whether Catholic hospitals should be forced to provide euthanasia to patients who request to be killed.

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.

Following recent acts of crime and vandalism at three Staten Island parishes, the local state senator, Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, called for increased security.

One parish was defaced with feces during a Christmas Mass; the rectory of a second parish was broken into. At a third parish, an assailant interrupted Mass “by breaking an angel statue, snatching the missal and a cross from the altar, tearing down flowers, and damaging the sanctuary’s marble floor,” CNA reported.

Referring to a 1968 sermon by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops encouraged each of the faithful to be a “drum major for justice.”

“Dr. King’s sermon encouraged people to be leaders in the priorities that Christ gave us: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City wrote in his reflection for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, released yesterday.

“I encourage you to take time to reflect on how the Holy Spirit may be inviting you to join with others in addressing challenges within our families, neighborhoods, or communities,” Archbishop Coakley added. “May we lead the way in building a society rooted in justice, peace, righteousness, and the dignity of every human person.”

In an article in The Catholic Herald, Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali recounted his intellectual journey from the Anglican episcopate to the Catholic faith.

Msgr. Nazir-Ali, the former Anglican bishop of Raiwind (Pakistan) and Rochester (England), was received into the Church and ordained a priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2021.

In the most prominent front-page article in its January 13 edition, L’Osservatore Romano published a lengthy interview with Philippe Lazzarini, a UN official who had briefed the Pope on the suffering of Palestinians.

Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told the Vatican newspaper that “today, in the Gaza Strip, all universities have been destroyed, 80% of our schools have been damaged or completely destroyed. Furthermore, we have more than 600,000 boys and girls of primary and secondary school age who are currently living among the rubble.”

Lazzarini added:

It’s not new that international law is trampled upon. What is new is the claim to systematically trample upon it so openly, without even trying to deny it. And that is exactly what happened in the context of Gaza ...

Today, international law is ailing, and we must stand by its bedside. But we must not abandon it, because the alternative, if we no longer had rules to refer to, would be barbarism.

Lazzarini described the Pope’s words of support for suffering Palestinians as “extremely important ... The Palestinian population has the impression that, in a sense, the international community has turned its back on them. And I think that this message of compassion and solidarity from the Holy Father radiates far beyond the Christian populations of the region.”

As the Philippine feast of the Santo Niño de Cebú approaches, Cebu’s archbishop asked festival organizers not to accept advertising from the gambling industry.

Archbishop Alberto Uy said that the festival “should remain a celebration that truly reflects the joy, purity, and light of the Santo Niño [Holy Child]. We can honor him not only with our dances, prayers, and celebrations, but also through the moral choices we make in organizing this sacred event.”

Responding to a letter from a Swiss catechist, Pope Leo XIV wrote that “hours dedicated to catechesis are never wasted, even if there are very few participants.”

“The problem is not the numbers—which, of course, make one reflect—but the increasingly evident lack of awareness in feeling part of the Church, that is, of being living members of the Body of Christ, all with unique gifts and roles, and not merely users of the sacred, of the sacraments, perhaps out of mere habit,” Pope Leo continued.

The exchange was published in Piazza San Pietro, a magazine published under the Vatican basilica’s auspices. Pope Leo has continued his predecessor’s custom of answering one letter in each issue.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said that protests in Iran manifest the “desire [for] life, dignity, and justice” that is “inside the heart of any human being.”

Speaking with Vatican News, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, expressed hope that the situation “will not conclude in more violence and bloodshed.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa also discussed the continued humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the far “more serene” situation of the Church in Jordan, where the Latin Patriarchate oversees 30 schools. Describing the Holy Land as “a fifth Gospel” and “a kind of eighth sacrament,” the cardinal said it is “absolutely safe” for pilgrims to return.

The bishops of the Central African Republic condemned corruption, nepotism, abuse of power following a presidential election that was marked by allegations of fraud.

Stating that “a political opponent is not an enemy,” the bishops said that “no true progress can be achieved” without credible, transparent institutions.

The nation of 5.8 million (map) is 75% Christian (45% Catholic), 14% Muslim, and 10% ethnic religionist.