A parish priest in a small Andalusian town has come under sustained protest after informing a parishioner in a civil same-sex marriage that he could no longer receive Holy Communion, citing the public and persistent nature of the union as incompatible with the Church’s discipline for the Eucharist.
On May 30, following Sunday Mass at the Parish of San Fernando in Villanueva del Río y Minas near Seville, the priest, identified in local reports as Fr Manuel C, asked José Antonio Hurtado to remain behind.
According to Hurtado’s public account, the priest told him he would no longer administer the Eucharist because Hurtado’s same-sex “marriage” – widely known in the town – placed him in a state of manifest grave sin.