Biden admin backs down in battle over Catholic hospital's chapel candle

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The Biden administration is rescinding its threat to strip a Catholic hospital system in Oklahoma of federal accreditation if it didn't remove a sacred candle in a hospital chapel.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) informed Saint Francis Health System on Friday that it was backing down from its prior threats and that it was free to keep the sanctuary candle lit, according to The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm representing the hospital system.

"The government has seen the light and has abandoned its attempt to force an Oklahoma hospital to blow out a small candle or stop serving elderly, disabled and low-income patients," said Lori Windham, a vice president and senior counsel at Becket. "[HHS] has told Saint Francis that it can keep its living flame — a sacred candle housed in the hospital chapels."

"The government knew it was playing with fire — today it announced its decision to allow the living flame so Saint Francis can continue to serve God and its community, as it always has," Windham added.

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Barry Steichen, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Saint Francis, said the sacred candle represents their faith in God as they help patients. (Saint Francis Health System)

HHS' decision Friday to abandon its attempt to punish Saint Francis Health System came days after Windham sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and other senior agency officials, warning that Becket was prepared to file a federal lawsuit on behalf of the hospital to defend its use of the candle.

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Becket was forced to intervene after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an HHS subagency, stood by its determination in April that the candle posed a fire threat and that, if it wasn't removed, the agency would strip Saint Francis Hospital System of its ability to accept Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

"You have threatened to deny accreditation because Saint Francis keeps a candle — an eternal flame — in its hospital sanctuary," Windham wrote Tuesday.

"For 15 years, that flame has burned without problem or concern in Saint Francis Hospital South in Tulsa; and for 63 years, the eternal flame has burned at Saint Francis Hospital Yale Campus, the largest hospital in the state of Oklahoma, without problem or concern," she continued.

A CMS spokesperson said that the agency ultimately decided to back down after it met with hospital officials on Thursday.

"On May 4, CMS hosted a meeting with the hospital and the independent accreditation organization that made the safety finding," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The parties agreed on mitigation steps so the hospital can maintain the sanctuary candle."

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on March 22, 2023 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Saint Francis Health System, the 12th-largest hospital in the U.S., takes in about 400,000 patients on an annual basis, has given away more than $650 million worth of free medical care in the past five years and employs more than 11,000 Oklahomans. The system is composed of seven different facilities across the state.

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And a delegation of Oklahoma lawmakers — including GOP Sens. James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin and GOP Reps. Kevin Hern, Tom Cole, Frank Lucas, Stephanie Bice and Josh Brecheen — cheered the Biden administration's decision Friday to back down.

"CMS inexplicably threatened to revoke Saint Francis Hospital’s accreditation because of a religious eternal flame, which is unrelated to healthcare," the lawmakers said in a statement. "St. Francis is a Catholic hospital seeking to serve all who need care in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This was a violation of religious freedom — a bedrock of our nation’s founding." 

"Our Oklahoma Delegation immediately worked to stop this injustice and was thankfully successful," they continued. "The sight of an eternal flame is to give hope— we will not allow any federal agency to extinguish Oklahomans’ right to exercise their freedom of religion — especially in a time of need. We’ll now get to work to ensure this doesn’t happen anywhere or to anyone else."

HHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Fox News Digital reporter Jon Brown and Fox News Digital Production Assistant Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.