Several stories have run about the recent “mass of thanksgiving” offered for a “gay wedding” that took place across the street. It is particularly noteworthy due to its having taken place in Bologna, the diocese of the highly prominent papal candidate and new Italian Bishops’ Conference president, Cardinal Zuppi. So, it seems like some “motivated” journalism… people trying to take some swings, perhaps in an effort to influence the next conclave.

The journalism has been less than good. (First disclosure, I used to do work for the main paper reporting the story, doing some translations, so I have a bias opposite my conclusion here.)

One problem with the headlines is that, in fact, this was not the first “gay wedding blessing” that has happened in Italy, not even in the past few years, depending on how broad that category is understood to be. Read about the last instance of something like this happening here, ironically reported on also by the same paper when it happened. (Second disclosure – I spent some good time in that diocese, and around its bishop – it is not exactly a conservative place, but it’s not “Left” either.) While it was not in a liturgical context per se, it was an actual “wedding” – or at least a civil union. In any case, the failure to note this event was a mistake.

Furthermore, and much more importantly, there are at least four questions that the stories have left unanswered, at least as far as I can tell, given that the parish priest claims he “told” the Cardinal about this event. First, what exactly did the parish priest tell the Cardinal? That there were some gay men who would be acknowledged at a mass? That they would be present? That they were coming to mass after a “wedding”? That they would be celebrated for having just gotten “married”? Something else? Second, when did he tell him what he told him? Was it even ahead of time? If so, how long in advance? Third, how did he tell him? Text message, phone call, letter, in person, and in what detail? Fourth, and perhaps more importantly, what exactly did the Cardinal say in response, if anything?

Lots of work left to do here… and maybe some of that work includes giving the benefit of the doubt, until more information appears.