He'd Make a Decent Unitarian...He's Got the Logic Skills

 

Rome Newsroom, Mar 31, 2021 / 07:00 am MT (CNA).- A Catholic diocese in Italy has described a priest’s refusal to bless palms on Sunday because of the Vatican’s rejection of blessings for same-sex unions as “reprehensible.”

The Diocese of Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato said that the matter was being addressed according to Church norms.

Fr. Giulio Mignani, a priest in the north-western Italian diocese, made headlines after he refused to bless palm branches at a Palm Sunday Mass in protest of the Vatican’s document clarifying that the Catholic Church does not have the power to bless same-sex unions.

The document, a “responsum ad dubium,” was issued with Pope Francis’ approval by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on March 15. The CDF explained its reasoning in a note and accompanying commentary.

The 50-year-old Mignani, pastor of Santa Caterina Parish in Bonassola, said during his homily March 28, “if I can’t bless same-sex couples, then I won’t bless palms and olive branches either,” according to local newspaper La Nazione.