WeeklySA_AdminAPPROVAL: Clergy adamant move by Vatican contradictory “to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt”…
By By Peter Pinedo,
Reuters and WSAM Correspondent
WASHINGTON – Catholic Bishops of Africa yesterday there will be “no blessing for homosexual couples in the African churches” – in a move rejecting the recent Vatican directive permitting pastoral blessings of same-sex unions.
The move is contained in a letter issued by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), who explained that this represented a synthesis of opinions of all the African bishops.
On December 18, Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples, in a radical shift in policy aimed at making the church more inclusive while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage.
But, while the Vatican statement was heralded by some as a step toward breaking down discrimination in the Catholic Church, some LGBTQ+, advocates warned it underscored the church’s idea that gay couples remain inferior to heterosexual partnerships.
Two weeks later, in a move to pacify a ‘dissenting African bloc’, the Vatican on January 4 moved to calm Catholic bishops who have baulked over last month’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples, telling them that the measure is not “heretical” or “blasphemous”.
In a five-page statement, the Vatican’s doctrinal office also acknowledged that such blessings could be “imprudent” in some countries where people who receive them might become targets of violence, or risk prison or even death.
Catholic bishops in some countries, particularly in Africa, had expressed varying degree of dissent over the December 18 declaration, known by its Latin title Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust), which was approved by Pope Francis.
After the original declaration was issued, a number of Catholic bishops’ conferences issued statements stressing that the blessings did not amount to an official approval of gay sex or a sacrament of marriage for same-sex couples.
The doctrinal office, known as the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, stressed these aspects in its statement on January 4, saying that blessings for same-sex couples should not be seen as “a justification of all their actions, and they are not an endorsement of the life that they lead”.
The office said it wanted “to clarify the reception of Fiducia Supplicans while recommending at the same time a full and calm reading” of the December 18 declaration, which it said is “clear and definitive about marriage and sexuality”. It added: “Evidently, there is no room to distance ourselves doctrinally from this declaration or to consider it heretical, contrary to the Tradition of the Church or Blasphemous.”
In yesterday’s letter, Ambongo said, while the African bishops “have strongly reaffirmed their communion with Pope Francis,” they “believe that the extra-liturgical blessings proposed in the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans cannot be carried out in Africa without exposing themselves to scandals.”
He said the Vatican’s December 18 declaration had “caused a shockwave” in Africa and had “sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors.”
Ambongo said the African bishops reminded the faithful that, “as Fiducia Supplicans clearly does, the Church’s doctrine on Christian marriage and sexuality remains unchanged.”
“For this reason, we, the African bishops, do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities,” the African cardinal said.
The letter is the first instance of the Church in an entire continent rejecting same-sex blessings. The Catholic Church taught that same-sex attraction was not sinful but homosexual acts are. Since his election in 2013, Francis had tried to make the more than 1.35-billion-member Church more welcoming to LGBT people, without changing moral doctrine.
Ambongo said the language used in Fiducia Supplicans is “too subtle for simple people to understand” and that it is “very difficult to be convincing that people of the same sex who live in a stable union, do not claim the legitimacy of their own status.”
The letter goes on to list many more reasons why the African Church will not be offering same-sex couples blessings, citing multiple biblical passages.
Cultural
In addition to biblical reasons, Ambongo added “the cultural context in Africa, deeply rooted in the values of the natural law regarding marriage and family, further complicates the acceptance of unions of persons of the same sex, as they are seen as contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt.”
“The African Bishops’ Conferences emphasise that people with homosexual tendencies must be treated with respect and dignity, while reminding them that unions of persons of the same-sex are contrary to the will of God and therefore cannot receive the blessing of the Church,” Ambongo said.
“Therefore,” he went on, “rites and prayers that could blur the definition of marriage — as an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, open to procreation — are considered unacceptable.”
He called on Christian communities “not to allow themselves to be shaken” by the confusion gripping the Church following the release of Fiducia Supplicans.
