African Catholic Bishops Reject Vatican’s Same-Sex Blessing Proposal

African Catholic bishops will not carry out extra-liturgical blessings proposed for same-sex couples in a Vatican declaration on irregular couples.

The Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) president, Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, cited confusion and a risk of scandal in a letter released on January 11.

Published on December 18, the Declaration Fiducia supplicans allows for the blessing of spouses whose union is deemed “valid” by the Catholic church. But in Zambia, the paper caused debate among Africans, Catholics, and some African bishops.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith clarified the original declaration and addressed concerns, stating that a blessing would be imprudent when laws condemn the act of declaring oneself as homosexual with prison, torture, and even death.