In the greatest rebuke yet to Pope Francis, the Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday refusing to follow his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples and asserting that such unions are \u201ccontrary to the will of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement, signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on behalf of the symposium of African national bishops conferences, marked the closest thing to a continent-wide dissent from the\u00a0declaration Francis approved Dec. 18\u00a0allowing priests to offer such blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has sent shock waves through the Catholic Church, thrilling LGBTQ+ Catholics as a concrete sign of Francis\u2019 message of welcome but alarming conservatives who fear core doctrines of the church are being ignored or violated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The controversy has deepened a growing chasm between Francis\u2019 progressive, reform-minded papacy and the conservative church in much of the world,\u00a0especially Africa,\u00a0where the number of Catholics is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vatican declaration restated traditional church teaching that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman. But it allowed priests to offer spontaneous, non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples seeking God\u2019s grace in their lives, provided such blessings aren\u2019t confused with the rites and rituals of a wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his statement, Ambongo said it wasn\u2019t 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 \u201care seen as contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWithin 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,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While stressing that African bishops remain in communion with Francis, he said they believed such blessings cannot be carried out because \u201cin our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few weeks ago, Burundi\u2019s President Evariste Ndayishimiye said \u201cpeople of the same sex who marry in this country should be taken to a stadium to be pelted with stones, once discovered.\u201d In a radio broadcast Dec. 29, he asked Burundians living abroad who practice homosexuality \u201cnot to return home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ambongo said the symposium statement was a \u201cconsolidated summary\u201d of the positions adopted by individual national bishops conferences, and said it had received the \u201cagreement\u201d of Francis and the doctrine office\u2019s new prefect, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The botched rollout of the Dec. 18 declaration has\u00a0heightened conservative criticism of Fern\u00e1ndez, whom Francis appointed to the office over the summer. Fern\u00e1ndez apparently published the text with little consultation inside the Vatican and no forewarning to bishops in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually, when such sensitive Vatican documents are being prepared, there is an attempt to at least not blindside local church leaders. Often they are released with an accompanying letter or explanatory note published by Vatican Media, and are given to journalists ahead of time under an embargo to ensure the reporting is accurate and thought through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No such extra documentation or preparation accompanied Fiducia Supplicans, as the text is known, and its rollout was marked by individual bishops and entire national conferences voicing confusion and opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others have welcomed it. France\u2019s bishops conference, for example, said in a statement Wednesday that the declaration encourages pastors to \u201cgenerously bless the people who come to them humbly asking for God\u2019s help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The document \u201creminds us that those who are not in a position to commit themselves to the sacrament of marriage are not excluded from the love of God or of his church,\u201d the French bishops said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After its initial publication, Fern\u00e1ndez was forced to issue a second explanatory note a few weeks later, insisting there was nothing \u201cheretical\u201d in the document but acknowledging the opposing views. He acknowledged that it may not be applicable to some parts of the world and that\u00a0further \u201cpastoral reflection\u201d\u00a0might be necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the greatest rebuke yet to Pope Francis, the Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday refusing to follow his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples and asserting that such unions are \u201ccontrary to the will of God.\u201d The statement, signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on behalf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2,16],"tags":[7,30,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-38478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-featured","9":"category-news","10":"tag-apie-project","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-news"},"yoast_head":"\n