SAN FRANCISCO (LifeSiteNews) — The two priests of the Catholic cathedral in San Francisco have said they will not impart blessings on “couples in irregular unions, including same-sex couples.”
In a January 13 statement (shared here by Father John Zuhlsdorf), Fathers Kevin Kennedy and Jerald Geronimo of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco notified parishioners that they would not carry out blessings for couples in “irregular unions” or “same-sex couples” following the Vatican’s December 18 Declaration Fiducia Supplicans.
The declaration, authored by scandal-rocked Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and authorized by Pope Franics, related a new opening for priests to offer blessings on homosexual couples and those in “irregular unions.”
The San Francisco priests stated that the document “firmly” safeguards the Catholic doctrine on sacramental marriage, but insisted that, owing “first and foremost upon a fundamental matter of conscience, which is sacred and inviolable,” they could not impart blessings on same-sex and irregular “unions.” The clerics also noted that their refusal to grant such blessings is based on their “pastoral judgement regarding the danger of scandal,” a factor which they said had been “specified” in instructions related to Fiducia Supplicans by local Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.
The letter added that individual priestly blessings can be requested “at any time” since “this has always been the practice of the Church.”
The full statement can be read HERE.