Church accused of hate crime after ‘banning gay mayor from mass’
Spain’s Catholic Church has been accused of a hate crime after a gay mayor claimed that he had been banned from receiving communion by his priest.
Rubén García de Andrés, the Socialist mayor of Torrecaballeros, near Segovia, posted on X that the village priest had barred him from holy communion “for my sexual orientation and for living with my partner”.
Mr García de Andrés is a practising Catholic and had previously been a lay preacher in Torrecaballeros until, he claims, that role was taken away from him two years ago for the same reason.
Mr Aceves asked Jesús Vidal Chamorro, the incoming bishop of Segovia, to overturn the ban on the mayor and another gay couple in the area, who also claim they have been prevented from taking mass.
But the bishopric of Segovia defended itself, saying in a statement that the priest had acted not out of homophobia but following the canons of the Catholic Church, under which any couple living together outside wedlock, including heterosexual couples, can be refused the sacrament.
“This is not homophobia or discrimination, since communion is not denied on the basis of homosexuality, but rather to defend the sacred character of the Eucharist,” the statement read.
The mayor claimed that he had been told the problem was that he was openly living with another man and that “it would be different if he was just gay and following a path of conversion”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...gay-mayor/
Meanwhile in the US...
Someone has been stealing gold from catholic churches. It would be hilarious if they caught the thief and discovered he melted the crown, sold gold and jewels, and donated the proceeds to the poor.
Spain’s Catholic Church has been accused of a hate crime after a gay mayor claimed that he had been banned from receiving communion by his priest.
Rubén García de Andrés, the Socialist mayor of Torrecaballeros, near Segovia, posted on X that the village priest had barred him from holy communion “for my sexual orientation and for living with my partner”.
Mr García de Andrés is a practising Catholic and had previously been a lay preacher in Torrecaballeros until, he claims, that role was taken away from him two years ago for the same reason.
Mr Aceves asked Jesús Vidal Chamorro, the incoming bishop of Segovia, to overturn the ban on the mayor and another gay couple in the area, who also claim they have been prevented from taking mass.
But the bishopric of Segovia defended itself, saying in a statement that the priest had acted not out of homophobia but following the canons of the Catholic Church, under which any couple living together outside wedlock, including heterosexual couples, can be refused the sacrament.
“This is not homophobia or discrimination, since communion is not denied on the basis of homosexuality, but rather to defend the sacred character of the Eucharist,” the statement read.
The mayor claimed that he had been told the problem was that he was openly living with another man and that “it would be different if he was just gay and following a path of conversion”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...gay-mayor/
Meanwhile in the US...
Someone has been stealing gold from catholic churches. It would be hilarious if they caught the thief and discovered he melted the crown, sold gold and jewels, and donated the proceeds to the poor.
Quote:Thief steals golden crown from Mary statue inside Philly Catholic church
A 125-year-old golden crown made of jewelry and gems was stolen from a statue of Mary inside a Philadelphia Catholic church by an agile thief seen climbing up the outside wall of the Center City church before breaking in, police said.
The theft occurred Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, shortly after 1 a.m. inside the St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church on South 13th Street, Philadelphia police said.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/loc...h/4075762/
![[Image: Golden-crown-stolen-from-Philly-church.jpg]](https://media.nbcphiladelphia.com/2025/01/Golden-crown-stolen-from-Philly-church.jpg)
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
