The Declaration “Fiducia supplicans” sparked a strong reaction from African bishops, who refuse to bless homosexual couples. Here because
«The question of the blessing of homosexual couples, in Africa, is experienced as a marginal issue, worse, as something imposed from elsewhere». Father Benjamin Akotia’s opinion is widely shared on the continent, where the bishops gathered in the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences (Secam/Sceam) published a document with the unequivocal title: «No to the blessing for homosexual couples in all churches in Africa» .
The declaration Begging for confidence, they write, “has caused a shock wave, sowing misunderstandings and agitation in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated people and even pastors, arousing strong reactions”. This is a strong position, motivated by both biblical and cultural reasons: «We African bishops do not consider it appropriate to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction with the cultural ethics of African communities”. Of course they also encourage offering “compassionate pastoral support in particular to couples in irregular situations” and treating homosexual people “with respect and dignity”.
The text, signed by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, archbishop of Kinshasa and president of Secam/Sceam (pictured with Pope Francis), concludes with a reference that is not secondary in this matter, that is, it is remembered that the Pontiff is “firmly opposed to any form of cultural colonization in Africa”. A question that the cardinal himself has reiterated with unequivocal (and much less formal) words in other contexts, interpreting the feelings of many African Catholics, who experience with profound uneasiness the imposition of “agendas” that they do not feel are their own. And underlining that every society – and every Church – must be able to walk at its own pace and address, in its own way and at its own pace, issues that concern not only faith, but also ethics, morality and social coexistence. That is, without causing fractures both within the African realities themselves and towards the universal Church.
Less understandable is the attitude of individual Episcopal Conferences, such as those of Ghana (both Catholic and Anglican) which openly support a new law criminalizing homosexuals. While the explicit approval of the Anglican Church (in clear break with the Archbishop of Canterbury) and the substantial silence of the Catholic Church in the face of the tightening of the anti-LGBTQ+ law in Uganda, which even provides for the death penalty for sexual acts, are unjustifiable between people of the same sex.