Madrid, Spain, Feb 17, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A parish priest in Spain, the second in recent weeks, has become the object of a lawsuit alleging “public humiliation” of a militant homosexual who desired to receive Communion. Father Domingo Garcia Dobao, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Jaen, Spain, has been sued by Juan Diego Fuentes Medina after the priest publicly denied him Communion for registering his gay union with Angel de los Reyes with local officials.

Father Garcia explained his decision by pointing out that by making formally public a situation the Church is against, “they cannot receive Communion.”  “I have only applied ecclesiastical norms,” he added.

“What I did,” said Father Garcia, “was fulfill my obligations, as this is what the Church teaches.”  “A Christian cannot receive the sacraments when he or she is officially living in a non-marital union with someone else.”

Father Garcia reminded reporters that Fuentes had been administered Communion at Mass on various occasions before formalizing his homosexual union, but that the decision to publicly register the union with the government obliged him to make his decision.

03:07 pm | Spouse of Costa Rican presidential candidate 'pockets' Eucharist

02:15 pm | Vatican responds to widely divergent reports on Boffo resignation

12:56 pm | Venezuelan cardinal calls for new evangelization of country's capital

11:11 am | International congress to focus on priestly identity and celibacy

07:10 am | Former Saints star says Super Bowl victory revealed a ‘team with destiny’

Trenton diocese invalidates girl’s first Communion because of use of substitute wafer