KINSHASHA, Democratic Republic of the Congo (LifeSiteNews) — The Cardinal president of the bishops’ conferences for Africa and Madagascar reportedly tasked all bishops’ conferences in the continent to work together in issuing a single “pastoral statement” in response to the Vatican’s recent document approving blessings for same-sex couples.
In a letter apparently sent by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on December 20, the cardinal sought to collate a continental response to the chaos caused by the Vatican’s December 18 Fiducuia Supplicans, which approved blessings for same-sex couples.
“The ambiguity of this declaration, which lends itself to many interpretations and manipulations, is causing much perplexity among the faithful, and I believe that, as pastors of the Church in Africa, we need to speak out clearly on this issue in order to give clear guidance to our Christians,” read the text from Ambongo, which contained a misprint regarding the date of Fiducia Supplicans’ publication.
Amobongo has led the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) since February 2023 and is a member of Pope Francis’ select Council of Cardinals. The internal letter was shared online by Vatican journalist Diane Montagna, with no source cited. No official confirmation has been issued by Ambongo about the text, although LifeSite has requested further comment on the document.
Highlighting the emphasis placed on bishops’ conferences by the Synod on Synodality, Ambongo asked all prelates of the continent about drawing up a single response to the document issued by Pope Francis and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández approving blessings for same-sex couples.
READ: Pope Francis publishes norms for clergy to ‘bless’ homosexual couples
“I am writing to you, Your Excellencies, to ask your opinion on the above-mentioned Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, so that we can draw up a single synodal declaration, valid for the whole Church in Africa,” the 63-year-old cardinal penned.
Once such responses are submitted to the SECAM secretariat by mid-January, Ambongo wrote, then a single “pastoral statement” on the matter of Fiducia Supplicans could be issued for the entire “continent.”
While Ambongo seeks to collate a single pastoral statement for the entire continent, numerous African nations are already moving against the Vatican’s push for same-sex blessings. Cameroon’s bishops, in a singularly forthright and clear statement, declared they “formally forbid” any blessings of same-sex couples in the country.
On December 19, the bishops conference of Malawi issued a statement instructing that “to avoid creating confusion among the faithful we direct that for pastoral reasons, blessings of any kind and for same-sex unions of any kind, are not permitted in Malawi.”
They have been joined by bishops in Rwanda, Zambia, and a growing number of prelates throughout the Catholic Church, although certain African nations have followed the lead of dioceses in the U.S. and Europe in taking a less confrontational stance on the text.
As such, it remains to be seen what stance a continental document would take regarding the Vatican’s controversial text.
READ: FULL LIST: Where do bishops stand on blessings for homosexual couples?
The early sparks of the movement of resistance began on December 18 with Bishop Joseph Strickland and Bishop Athanasius Schneider, with Strickland calling for a “united voice” rejecting the text and Schneider’s archdiocese issuing a prohibition of “accepting or performing any form of blessing whatsoever of couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples.”
Under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1986, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a document instructing bishops on the pastoral care of homosexual persons. The CDF admonished bishops to ensure they, and any “pastoral programme” in the diocese, are “clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral.”
As recently as in 2021, the CDF issued a text that stated clearly the Church does not have the “power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex.”
Meanwhile, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.”