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CBCP: Pastors in same-sex weddings may face charges


The pastors who solemnized same-sex weddings in Baguio City last weekend may face charges and sanctions, including the revocation of their licenses, Catholic Church officials said on Wednesday. On June 25, three pastors of the Metropolitan Community Church of Metro Baguio solemnized the unions of eight gay couples in Baguio City. Former Manila Bishop Teodoro Bacani Jr. said a same-sex wedding violates the Family Code of the Philippines which defines marriage as the union between "a man and a woman." In an article posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site, Bacani cited Article 1 of the Family Code, which defines marriage as “a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman." Bacani said there may be enough grounds for the one who ministered the “wedding" rites to be prosecuted before the court. "I think they can be also be prosecuted for doing something illegal before the law," said Bacani, a member of the Constitutional Convention that drafted the 1987 Constitution. Bacani said the Holy Bible similarly provides that a sacred union should just be between a man and a woman. Family code Under the Family Code of the Philippines, as defined in Executive Order 209 issued on July 6, 1987, "Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life." "It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code," the Family Code says. Article 2 of the Code lists one of three essential requisites for a valid marriage as the "Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female." Authority could be revoked For his part, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the ministers presiding over same-sex weddings may have their authority to solemnize a marriage revoked. “A priest who uses his authority to solemnize an inappropriate marriage stands to lose his faculty or authority both granted by the Church and the State," Cruz said. Cruz heads the CBCP National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal. The CBCP said the National Statistics Office (NSO) issues authority to priests or ministers of other churches to administer a wedding. - VVP, GMA News

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