U.S.

Supreme Court dismisses challenge to abortion drug mifepristone in unanimous ruling

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court June 13 unanimously dismissed a challenge to mifepristone, a pill commonly used for abortion, finding that the challengers lacked standing to bring the case. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court found in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that the “plaintiffs lack Article III standing to challenge FDA’s actions regarding the regulation of mifepristone.” “Plaintiffs are pro-life, oppose elective abortion, and have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to mifepristone being prescribed and used by others,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Because plaintiffs do not prescribe or use mifepristone, plaintiffs are unregulated parties who seek to challenge FDA’s regulation of others.” The ruling was not unexpected, as during March oral arguments in the case, justices from across the court’s ideological spectrum appeared skeptical that the coalition of pro-life doctors challenging the reduced regulations had legal standing to bring the lawsuit, with the question of standing becoming more of a focus than whether the FDA acted lawfully. A coalition of pro-life opponents of mifepristone, which is the first of two drugs used in a medication or chemical abortion, filed suit over loosened restrictions on the drug by the Food and Drug Administration, arguing the government violated its own safety standards in doing so. (OSV News)

Court temporarily blocks enforcement of EEOC abortion provision

WASHINGTON — A federal court in Louisiana June 17 issued a temporary injunction blocking a federal agency from enforcing an abortion provision in regulations meant to add workplace protections for pregnant workers against Catholic ministries who challenged them. In United States Conference of Catholic Bishops v. EEOC, religious groups challenged final regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that grant workers protections for time off and other job accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions such as miscarriage, stillbirth and lactation — but also for abortion, which was opposed by many of the bill’s supporters, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act legislation was supported by many Catholic groups, including the U.S. bishops’ conference, but Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokeswoman, said May 23 that while the conference supported the law itself, its regulations would, in effect, force the USCCB to “knowingly support employees as they get abortions, and it forbids us from encouraging them to choose life.” (OSV News)

Pope swaps jokes with comedy stars at Vatican

VATICAN CITY — As they waited for Pope Francis to arrive at the Clementine Hall in the Vatican Apostolic Palace for an early morning audience, late night comedy stars looked at each other and thought, “something’s wrong.” Comedian Conan O’Brien recalled, “We’re in this beautiful, beautiful space in the Vatican and for some reason they’ve let comedians in, which is always a mistake,” he told reporters after meeting the pope June 14. He was one of 105 comedians from around the world who traveled to the Vatican for a papal audience and to “establish a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists,” according to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which organized the meeting. Comedians from the United States included Stephen Colbert, Chris Rock, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Gaffigan and Mike Birbiglia among others. The pope told the comedians that “in the midst of so much gloomy news, immersed as we are in many social and even personal emergencies, you have the power to spread peace and smiles.” (CNS)

WORLD

Lasting peace requires all warring parties in dialogue, cardinal says

VATICAN CITY — The only way to achieve true, stable and just peace is by having all sides of a conflict involved in dialogue, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said at a peace summit in Switzerland. “The Holy See expresses its hope that the diplomatic effort currently being promoted by Ukraine and supported by so many countries will be improved, in order to achieve the results that the victims deserve and that the entire world is hoping for,” he said in his speech June 16. Upon Ukraine’s request, Switzerland organized a Summit on Peace in Ukraine, which was held at a resort overlooking Lake Lucerne in the Canton of Nidwalden June 15-16. Cardinal Parolin, who led the Vatican delegation, said, “It is important to reiterate that the only means capable of achieving true, stable and just peace is dialogue between all the parties involved.” The Vatican “remains prepared to assist in the implementation of potential mediation initiatives that are acceptable to all parties and benefit those who have been affected,” he said. (CNS)

Theologians study synod reports to prepare working document

VATICAN CITY — As preparations continue for the second assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, enthusiasm for greater involvement in the life and mission of the Church is accompanied by “confusion, worry or anxiety” on the part of some Catholics, the secretary-general of the synod said. “In particular, there is a fear that what is sent (to the synod office) is not taken seriously or that ideologies and lobbies of the faithful may exploit the synodal path to impose their own agenda,” Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary-general, said in a statement June 14. The cardinal commented at the end of a 10-day working meeting of 20 theologians from around the world who studied 107 reports on the synod process sent in from bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic churches and the international unions of superiors of men’s and women’s religious orders, the reports from a meeting of parish priests convoked by the synod office April 29-May 2, as well as more than 175 submissions from Catholic associations, universities, communities and individuals. The theologians were asked to read, organize and summarize the reports to assist members of the synod council in preparing the working document for the synod session Oct. 2-27. (CNS)