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| Archbishop Vincent Nichols stops Soho gay Catholic Mass | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Special Masses for gay Catholics at a London church are to be scrapped, the Archbishop of Westminster has said. | |
| Archbishop Vincent Nichols said Masses at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street, Soho, would end. | |
| He said the Masses were not in line with the church's central teaching on sexuality. | |
| Gay rights charity Stonewall said: "It is a real shame he's taken away an opportunity for gay Catholics to celebrate Mass in a safe environment." | |
| Archbishop Nichols, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has been one of the loudest voices opposing government plans to allow same-sex marriages. | |
| He said, in a statement, that "people with same-sex attraction" would continue to receive pastoral care. | |
| The church will be dedicated at Lent to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a group set up by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 for Anglican clergy who defected to Roman Catholicism. | The church will be dedicated at Lent to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a group set up by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 for Anglican clergy who defected to Roman Catholicism. |
| Archbishop Nichols said: "The moral teaching of the church is that the proper use of our sexual faculty is within a marriage, between a man and a woman, open to the procreation and nurturing of new human life." | Archbishop Nichols said: "The moral teaching of the church is that the proper use of our sexual faculty is within a marriage, between a man and a woman, open to the procreation and nurturing of new human life." |
| But Stonewall director of public affairs Ruth Hunt, who is Catholic, said: "Given what's happened over Christmas, where there were vitriolic and mean messages from pulpit about same-sex marriage, there has never been a more important time to provide a safe space for gay Catholics to pray." | But Stonewall director of public affairs Ruth Hunt, who is Catholic, said: "Given what's happened over Christmas, where there were vitriolic and mean messages from pulpit about same-sex marriage, there has never been a more important time to provide a safe space for gay Catholics to pray." |
| Mr Nichols added: "As I stated in March 2012, this means 'that many types of sexual activity, including same-sex sexual activity, are not consistent with the teaching of the church'." | |
| Ms Hunt responded: "The Archbishop's views on gay issues are well rehearsed and have nothing to do with the spirituality of some lesbian and gay people and their desire to express their faith." | |
| Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street and The Diocese of Westminster have been approached by the BBC but declined to comment. | |
| Archbishop Nichols has previously attacked the Government's gay marriage Bill, labelling it "undemocratic" and a "shambles". | |
| The coalition government is committed to legislating on gay marriage by the 2015 general election, and a Bill is expected to be tabled in January. | |
| Prime Minister David Cameron has promised his MPs a free vote on the issue. |