Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 11, 2024 / 14:25 pm
In response to new Vatican guidelines permitting nonliturgical pastoral blessings of homosexual couples, the bishops of Africa issued a united statement in which they said there will be “no blessing for homosexual couples in the African churches.”
The letter, issued Jan. 11, was written by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
Ambongo said that the letter is a synthesis of all the African bishops’ opinions, which were sent in response to a request he issued on Dec. 20.
In the letter, Ambongo said that 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.”