Catholic priest celebrates transgender couple’s marriage
Our Lady of Pompeii parish in Corrientes (Parroquia Nuestra Señora De Pompeya Corrientes via Facebook)
A Catholic priest has publicly celebrated the marriage of a transgender couple in Argentina after determining that the union had no canonical impediment to the sacrament.
The 28 January Catholic wedding saw well-known LGBTQ+ activist Solange Ayala, who is a trans woman, marry her trans husband Isaías at Our Lady of Pompeii parish in Corrientes.
Speaking to Radio Sudamericana on 6 February, Ayala said that “the priest was fully aware of their situation from the outset and treated them with respect throughout”.
The priest celebrated the marriage after a consultation with the archbishop of Corrientes, José Adolfo Larregain, who concluded that, on the basis of the couple’s biological sex, the essential requirements for a valid Catholic marriage were met.
In a statement, The Lady of Pompeii parish said: “The Church teaches that Christian marriage, as a sacrament, requires the fulfilment of essential canonical conditions for its validity and licitness.”
It continued: “It is not merely a ceremony or the fulfilment of administrative requirements, but rather it is necessary that the contracting parties be legally capable of entering into marriage, that there be no canonical impediment, and that they give true consent, that is, that they wish to enter into marriage according to what the Church understands and teaches, with rectitude of intention and good faith.”
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