Source: LifeSiteNews.com
The president of the episcopal conferences of Africa and Madagascar has declared that the Catholic bishops in the continent will not be implementing Fiducia Supplicans’ blessing of same-sex “couples” after striking an “agreement” with Pope Francis, saying to do so would contradict African culture which is “deeply rooted in the values of the natural law regarding marriage and family.”
In a letter dated and issued January 11, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo presented the continental response to CDF prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández’s December 18 text proposing blessings for same-sex couples.
While noting how the amassed episcopal conferences of Africa had “strongly reaffirmed their Communion” with Pope Francis, Ambongo stated that the bishops remained united in their position opposing same-sex blessings.
#BREAKING Cdl. Ambongo (pres of African bishops’ conferences) says Africa’s bishops won’t implement Fiducia Supplicans, over “confusion..scandal” it would cause in African society & text is in “direct contradiction” with African culture.
Says position is approved by #PopeFrancis. pic.twitter.com/ViWlTsuR5j
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) January 11, 2024
Such blessings could not take place without causing “scandals,” and since the Church’s teaching “on marriage and sexuality remains unchanged,” the letter declared that:
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.
Offering blessings to those in same-sex relationships would make it “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.”
Instead, the bishops stated they “insist on the call for the conversion of all.” …