A Roman Catholic Diocese in New York dropped out as host of a music festival after finding out that the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus was one of the participants.
“The Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus is angered and deeply disappointed to learn the Choral Festival scheduled on Sunday, June 9th at St. Joseph Cathedral, was to be cancelled by the Catholic Diocese, in part due to the inclusion of the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus,” the group wrote in a post on Facebook.
The choral group wrote that the news came “less than three weeks” before the event, adding that the organization had participated in another event that promoted “unity, love, acceptance, community and standing up to those who deem us unworthy of dignity and life based on who we love.”
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The Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus also announced that it would instead be hosted at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, a Lutheran denomination church.
The diocese of Buffalo told Fox News Digital in a statement that it canceled the event after it learned that a “choir identified to perform” was in support of “values… inconsistent with Catholic teaching.”
“While we are disappointed that we had to cancel the concert, we understand that another venue has been identified for the concert,” the statement continued.
The diocese also explained that it “did not receive all details on the choirs expected to perform prior to confirmation of the event.”
The Catholic Church has faced scrutiny over statements that Pope Francis has made concerning same-sex unions.
When asked about Catholic priests blessing same-sex couples in an interview with “60 Minutes,” the Pope said that the church’s stance was clear.
“Last year you decided to allow Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples,” CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell said. “That’s a big change. Why?”
“No, what I allowed was not to bless the union. That cannot be done because that is not the sacrament. I cannot. The Lord made it that way,” the Pope said, in remarks translated into English. “But to bless each person, yes. The blessing is for everyone. For everyone. To bless a homosexual-type union, however, goes against the given right, against the law of the Church. But to bless each person, why not? The blessing is for all. Some people were scandalized by this. But why? Everyone! Everyone!”
The Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus group did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.
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