Cardinal Radcliffe discusses London Mass featuring blessing of same-sex couple
July 07, 2026
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CWN Editor's Note: Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., discussed a recent Mass marking the 50th anniversary of a same-sex couple. During the Mass, at which Cardinal Radcliffe preached the homily, Father Jim O’Keefe led “the assembled clergy in blessing” the couple, according to New Ways Ministry.
“I gave no blessing to anyone and had not been aware that any blessings would be given,” said Cardinal Radcliffe.
The Mass, described as a Mass of Thanksgiving for 50 Years of Friendship, Partnership, and Commitment in the Pursuit of Justice, “was not designed to celebrate gay relationships as such,” he continued. “To promote it as such would be to misrepresent it. To do so for the purposes of exciting scandal would be morally wrong.”
Cardinal Radcliffe added:
The guidelines given by the Church are that any such occasion should be private so as not to cause misunderstanding. It was agreed that this occasion should be private. Why the privacy was not respected I do not know. So making it more public by writing articles about it would be against the will of the Church as I understand it.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
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