Feds' threat to Catholic hospital funding over chapel candle could ignite 'legal firestorm,' attorneys say

The Becket Fund is threatening legal action against the HHS after an agency demanded Saint Francis Health System remove a sacred candle from its chapel or lose federal funding.

The Joint Commission is an independent accrediting organization whose findings are often used to meet conditions for Medicaid and Medicare certification with the HHS-affiliated Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Jon Brown is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to jon.brown@fox.com.

Saint Francis Health System, which is the 12th-largest hospital in the U.S., was told following a hospital inspection in February that its solitary candle at Saint Francis Hospital South was a safety hazard and that it would lose its ability to accept Medicare, Medicaid or CHIP if the flame was not removed, according to a letter sent to the hospital last month.