Catholic women's college in Indiana reverses policy change allowing applicants who ‘identify as women’

Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, reversed a recent decision to allow biological males to attend the university if they have a history of identifying as a woman.

Last month, President Katie Conboy told the faculty about the policy change in an email obtained by Fox News Digital.

"Saint Mary’s will consider undergraduate applicants whose sex assigned at birth is female or who consistently live and identify as women," Conboy emailed.

The school’s policy change drew harsh criticism from people like Fort Wayne-South Bend Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who reportedly urged the school to reverse course because the policy went against Catholic teachings.

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On Wednesday, Conboy and the chair of the school’s board of trustees, Maureen Smith, emailed the Saint Mary's College community saying the school would return to its previous admission policy.

"When the board approved this update, we viewed it as a reflection of our college’s commitment to live our Catholic values as a loving and just community," the letter read. "We believed it affirmed our identity as an inclusive, Catholic, women’s college."

The two acknowledged in the letter that not all members of the community took the same position, with some worried it was more than a policy decision. Instead, some saw the move as "a dilution" of the school’s mission or even a threat to the school’s Catholic identity.

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"As this last month unfolded, we lost people’s trust and unintentionally created division where we had hoped for unity," the letter read. "For this, we are deeply sorry.

"Taking all these factors into consideration, the Board has decided that we will return to our previous admission policy," the president and chairperson added.

The school was opened by four Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1844.

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Earlier this year, Pope Francis told journalist Elisabetta Piqué for the Argentine daily newspaper La Nación, that "Gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations."

"Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women," he added.

He also noted that there is a major difference between caring for people who identify as transgender versus actually endorsing their values, noting the contrast "between what pastoral care is for people who have a different sexual orientation and what gender ideology is."

Fox News Digital's Alexander Hall contributed to this report.