African bishops hurl thunderbolts at Pope Francis's call to bless gay couples in same-sex 'marriages'

Has Pope Francis stepped in it?

After putting out a document calling for the blessings of people in "irregular" marital situations and gay marriage, Africa's Catholic bishops aren't taking this well.

One after another, they are putting out statements of their own condemning the idea:

Bishops in Malawi have prohibited the implementation of the Vatican declaration on the blessing of “same-sex couples” and couples in other “irregular situations,” Fiducia Supplicans, which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released Dec. 18.

https://t.co/4sr3nVPiOq — Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) December 20, 2023

Cameroon's bishops issue 1 of strongest statements rejecting #PopeFrancis' Fiducia Supplicans: “we formally forbid all blessing of ‘homosexual couples’ in the Church of Cameroon.”
“Differentiating between liturgical/non-liturgical contexts” for such blessings “is hypocritical.”

pic.twitter.com/j5STEfqfKH — Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) December 22, 2023

The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ZCBC) on ‘Fiducia supplicans’ 🇿🇼:

pic.twitter.com/g09fE6RseW — Luke Coppen (@LukeCoppen) December 22, 2023

Here's a map:

Yes, there is pushback from Western liberals.Already I'm seeing progressive Catholics, both laymen and clerics, accusing Africans of being "backwards" for not mindlessly accepting Fiducia supplicans. Which only goes to prove my longheld suspicion that, deep down, liberals and progressives are more racist than anyone else on this earth, and that they only support people of minority races if they're the *right* kind of minority.

Africa is the big growth area of the Church, the continent where the largest numbes of priests are being called to vocations and where converts are multiplying daily — and in a place where the population is young and growing, not old and shrinking. These people are the future of the Church and it’s very likely that in coming years, they’re going to be running it.

Here is some insight on the numbers and what’s happening:

A century ago, sub-Saharan Africa had fewer than 2 million Christians. Today it has more than 130 million. That’s a growth rate of nearly 7,000 percent. We are blessed with many great shepherds from Africa such as Cardinal Robert Sarah. And Africa is also witnessing a growth in priestly vocations. An example 👇

16 young men were ordained to the priesthood for Catholic diocese of Nnewi in Nigeria last year, which has only around 450,000 Catholics.

That means in the near future African priests, bishops and cardinals would play an important role in the global Church’s decision making.

You know, in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, there was a fair amount of chatter of along the lines of “It’s about time for an African pope!” and “We need a black guy for a change.” And I must admit that my reaction to such chatter wasn’t particularly positive. I basically felt, “Seriously? Do we need affirmative action and racial tokenism in the papacy too?” And to a large extent, I understand why I felt that way. However, the irony is, of course, that there’s an approximately 100% chance than we’d have been far, far better off with one of the African cardinals compared to Bergoglio.

Our HOPE AND PRAYER LIES WITH THESE AFRICAN BISHOPS.

I always thought our next Catholic Pope would come from Africa, and I AM ALL FOR IT.

They are the only ones who don’t want to CHANGE CATHOLIC DOGMA, TENETS AND CATHECISM.

THEY ARE TRADITIONALISTS, MAY GOD BLESS THEM.

Our HOPE AND PRAYER LIES WITH THESE AFRICAN BISHOPS.

I always thought our next Catholic Pope would come from Africa, and I AM ALL FOR IT.

They are the only ones who don’t want to CHANGE CATHOLIC DOGMA, TENETS AND CATHECISM.

THEY ARE TRADITIONALISTS, MAY GOD BLESS THEM.

African Christians are firm in their devotion! If it weren’t for the African members of the United Methodist Church, it would not have been possible for devout Methodists to disaffiliate from the UMC. They held the line, refusing to agree to homosexual marriages by Methodist pastors, and openly homosexual pastors, so that a schism occurred, basically separating the sheep from the goats. God bless the African Christians, no matter what the denomination!

Not only Catholic and Anglican, and Evangelical churches there undergoing explosive growth, they are also very, very moral and conservative (with a few exceptions). As such, a bishop there has an enormous diocese, but the concomitant power of an Archbishop.

They can’t build churches fast enough for their congregants.

The overwhelming majority of parishioners are converts from Islam. This is based on a multitude of problems in Islam, which promises equality for all, but delivers slavery and abuse to blacks. And their penchant for violence against the innocent also drives away many people.

If you are a Muslim, you cannot just “leave” Islam, you have to convert, mostly to Christianity, to be fully free.

Because the Episcopalian-Anglican church in North America has become so tainted with immorality, many congregations have discovered that they can leave their American diocese and become a “Missionary church”, of an African diocese.

Rather surprising to visit an “African Missionary” church to discover that most of its congregation is white, and it is very traditionally conservative.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.