African Catholic Bishops Reject Pope’s Same-Sex Blessings
On Thursday, the Roman Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a statement refusing to follow Pope Francis’ declaration permitting priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples.
African Catholic bishops, in a statement from Accra, Ghana’s capital, said the Vatican’s declaration contradicted the cultural ethos of African communities.
Signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on behalf of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, or SECAM, the statement said such unions were contrary to the will of God.
Ambongo said it wasn’t appropriate for African priests to offer such blessings because of the scandal and confusion it would create. He cited biblical teaching condemning homosexuality as an abomination and the African cultural context, where he asserted that LGBTQ+ unions “are seen as contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt.”
“Within the church family of God in Africa, this declaration has caused a shockwave, it has sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons and even pastors, and has aroused strong reactions,” he wrote.
While stressing that African bishops remain in communion with Francis, he said they believed such blessings cannot be carried out because “in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities.”
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The move comes after Francis, on December 18, approved a declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples, which was welcomed by LQBTQ Catholics.
In the declaration, the Vatican reaffirmed the traditional church teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman but said priests could offer non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples, as long as those blessings weren’t confused with a wedding.
The pushback underscores a gap between the pope’s progressive, reform-oriented leadership and conservatives in much of the Catholic community.
A few weeks ago, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye said “People of the same sex who marry in this country should be taken to a stadium to be pelted with stones, once discovered.” In a radio broadcast on Dec. 29, he asked Burundians living abroad who practice homosexuality “not to return home.”
Ambongo said the symposium statement was a “consolidated summary” of the positions adopted by individual national bishops conferences, and said it had received the “agreement” of Francis and the doctrine office’s new prefect, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández.
