The Catholic Church in Africa “will not perform blessings for homosexual couples”. This emerges from a letter from the Association of African Episcopal Conferences (Secam), published this Thursday.
Here you will find the official text of the declaration on the pastoral meaning of blessings that the Vatican's highest religious authority published this Monday…
Secam President Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa writes that the Vatican Faith Dicastery's statement “Fiducia supplicans” on December 18 “triggered a shockwave and caused confusion” among many faithful in Africa. He received “lively reactions” “even from pastors.” The Vatican statement allowed the blessing of “irregular couples” on pastoral grounds under certain conditions.
“Excited reactions”
Ambongo summarizes the attitude of African Catholics in the five-page newspaper published this Thursday. He emphasizes that his message has “the consent” of the Pope and the prefect of the highest religious authority; is the Argentine cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández. Local churches in Africa reaffirmed “their unshakable attachment to the Successor of Peter, their communion with him and their fidelity to the Gospel”; However, they did not consider that the blessings allowed in “Fiducia supplicans” were possible in Africa “without causing a scandal”.
“Church teaching remains unchanged”
It is true that each bishop of his diocese remains free when it comes to such blessings; However, the continent's bishops' conferences did not believe in granting blessings to same-sex couples. The Church’s teaching on Christian marriage and sexuality remains “unchanged”, so blessing same-sex couples in Africa does not seem “appropriate”. “In our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction with the cultural ethics of African communities.” The language of “Fiducia supplicans” is “too subtle to be understood by ordinary people”.
“Some countries prefer to have more time to elaborate on the declaration”
At the same time, the document states that the pastoral care of the Church in Africa applies to everyone without distinction. People with homosexual inclinations must be “treated with respect and dignity”, even if, according to Church teaching, “homosexual relationships contradict the will of God”. The document from the Archbishop of Kinshasa suggests that the final word in this regard has not yet been said: “Some countries prefer to have more time to elaborate on the declaration”. In general, pastors in Africa wanted to think more about explaining the faith department and delve deeper into individual points, such as the value of “spontaneous blessings in popular pastoral care.”
(Vatican news – sk)