(LifeSiteNews) — Retired American Cardinal Edwin O’Brien has signed his name to LifeSite’s petition urging bishops to prohibit the blessing of homosexual “couples.”
Cardinal O’Brien offered his support after LifeSiteNews had emailed the petition to the bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church. Over 22,000 people have now signed.
In a brief statement sent to LifeSiteNews via email, O’Brien, who retired in 2019 after serving as the head of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Rome since 2011, emphasized that as one of the prelates involved in the founding of Courage – a Catholic apostolate formed in 1980 to aid those suffering from same-sex attractions – he is particularly disappointed with the Vatican’s document Fiducia Supplicans as it “seriously undermines their pledge to live a life of virtue.”
O’Brien emphasized that Courage was founded to help those suffering with same-sex attraction to live “committed to a chaste life in full accordance with solid Church teachings,” and that such people are “ill-served” by the “ambiguous” Fiducia Supplicans.
O’Brien, ordained in 1965, had a lengthy career as a churchman, during which he served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA, as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New York.