Argentine transgender couple Solange Ayala and her trans male fiancé Isaías were delighted when José Adolfo Larregain, a friar in the parish of Our Lady of Pompeii, located in the local Catholic diocese of Corrientes, gave them his holy blessing to get married.

The friar said that he consulted with Archbishop José Adolfo Larregain, who said that, since the couple consisted of two individuals who were assigned male and female at birth (and who identify as a man and a woman), “there was nothing he could object to against us being able to get married,” Ayala told Radio Sudamericana in a recent interview.

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However, on February 8, in a Spanish-language Facebook post, the archdiocese announced an investigation into their marriage and threatened to issue “warnings and formal canonical disciplinary measures” to the Catholic officials involved. The archdiocese claimed that the church “never received the ecclesiastical documentation corresponding to the formalities required for handling such cases.”

“The Church, as mother and teacher … reminds us that Christian marriage, as a sacrament, requires the fulfillment of certain essential conditions for its validity … as established by Canon Law and the living tradition of the Church…. The omission of these conditions not only distorts the profound meaning of the sacrament but can also generate confusion within the community of the faithful,” the Archdiocese’s statement read.

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While Catholic weddings require both spouses to submit numerous documents (including certificates of baptism and communion, affidavits, certifications of completion for church marriage-prep classes), it’s unclear what additional documentation the archdiocese needed to solemnize their marriage, Them reported. While the church leadership obviously refuses to recognize the sanctity of their marriage, it’s unclear if the church’s disapproval will now result in the marriage being annulled.

Under the leadership of now-deceased Pope Francis, the Catholic church increasingly acknowledged transgender Catholics. He met with trans activists, said that trans people can be baptized, and even approved blessing same-sex couples as individuals, though he also rejected gender-affirming care.

Though Pope Francis had a mixed record on LGBTQ+ issues, the current Pope Leo XIV is considered less progressive in comparison. As a bishop in Peru, he opposed teaching about gender in schools. In a 2012 speech, he also criticized Western news outlets for cultivating “sympathy” for “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children,” both of which (he said) contradict the Bible’s teachings.

“We reaffirm our commitment to a Church that welcomes, accompanies and walks alongside people, always in fidelity to the Gospel, to the doctrine of the Church and to the legal order that ensures the correct and fruitful celebration of the sacraments,” its statement concluded.

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