Alex Trelinski
A PARISH priest in a Castilla y Leon region town has refused to give Holy Communion to the mayor because he’s gay and in a relationship.
The priest’s ban in Torrecaballeros(Segovia province) has been imposed on Ruben Garcia de Andres.
The decision has caused an uproar with several people staging a protest outside the church doors on Sunday and refusing to go in for mass.
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Local residents as well as people from neighbouring towns including priests have reached out to offer support to the mayor.
Garcia de Andres met with his parish priest on Saturday to discuss a communion ban imposed on a gay couple in Segovia province over Christmas.
He was then told that he could not receive the sacrament either.
The mayor said: “He told me that he appreciated me very much, but asked that I not go to mass the next day to avoid an uncomfortable situation, because he could not give me communion.”
To make matters worse, Garcia de Andres said the priest suggested that he go on a ‘path of conversion’ suggesting illegal sexual orientation therapy.
After talking things over with his family, he decided to go public on the matter via social media.
“If you’re in the closet and are more false than Judas, then you can receive communion and that’s it,” he commented.
He said he that he decided not to remain silent and denounced what he described as homophobia on the part of the Church of Segovia.
The PSOE socialist party in the province has called on the Segovian Diocese to intervene and to end ‘this discrimination.’
They’ve demanded that the new incoming bishop of Segovia, Jesus Vidal Chamorro, stop hatred based on the sexual orientation of parishioners spreading in what they described as a ‘tolerant and respectful province’,
The Diocese of Segovia indicated it would not comment on the matter until the new bishop took up his post.
