Canada: a priest officiates at the "marriage" of his homosexual brother, the uncertain scope of Fiducia supplicans

A new priestly gesture publicly contradicts the doctrine of natural and sacramental marriage. The disciplinary silence of the ordinary broadens the permissive interpretation of the Roman text.

The fact

On July 21, 2026, Infovaticana reports the case of a Canadian Catholic priest who served as the master of ceremonies at the civil celebration of a "marriage" between two men, including his brother. The ceremony took place in Canada. No disciplinary sanctions from the competent bishop have been made public as of the date of the dispatch. The incident follows in the wake of the highly commented gesture of Cardinal Radcliffe (we had opened the thread on July 3).

Our reading

The Catholic doctrine on marriage is clear and enduring. Canon 1055 § 1 CIC 1983 defines the marital alliance as a covenant "between a man and a woman," ordered for the good of the spouses and procreation. The Catechism, in its number 2357, qualifies homosexual acts as "intrinsically disordered." The declaration Fiducia supplicans (DDF, December 18, 2023), in its number 39, expressly excludes "any form of liturgical or ritualized blessing" of same-sex couples, and prohibits any confusion with the marriage rite (no. 41).

A priest officiating at the civil celebration of a union between two men precisely crosses this line. He presents a ritualized priestly intervention, in a solemn framework, which could be confused with a Catholic ministry. The boundary set by the DDF is clear. The diocesan bishop, the only one competent under canon 391 § 1, must have his say.

To ponder

Pray for this priest, for his family, and for the bishop who will have to intervene. The Roman line is maintained only if it is applied by the ordinaries. Each disciplinary silence widens a little more the permissive interpretation of Fiducia supplicans.