2024-02-13 10:10:02
By firmly rejecting any blessing for homosexual couples, the continent’s bishops have just marked a salutary break with the spirit of the times. Faced with increasingly pressing moral diktats from the West, Africa has chosen to make its difference heard.
It all started on December 18, 2023, when the Vatican shocked by publishing a document authorizing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, under certain conditions.
A decision at odds with the traditional values still anchored in Africa. But the Holy See seems to have chosen its side in the mutation of morals which is shaking the West.
Faced with this warning shot, the reaction was not long in coming. Gathered in a symposium in Ghana in January 2024, the African bishops express a resounding rejection.
According to them, blessing homosexual couples would be “in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities”. And there is no question of compromising with the roots of the continent.
This courageous position finds particular resonance in Cameroon. During the recent seminar of the Cameroonian episcopate, Mgr Andrew Nkea banged his fist on the table.
For the Archbishop of Bamenda, homosexuality is simply “unacceptable in the Cameroonian Catholic Church”. A scathing disavowal sent to Pope Francis on this burning issue.
Through their unanimous position, the African bishops wanted to demonstrate their attachment to the traditional values of the continent. Even if it means clashing with the papacy on social issues considered here as impassable red lines.
The representatives of the Church in Africa thus set themselves up as guardians of morals in the face of a sort of moral imperialism that the West is trying to impose on them.
A healthy and necessary break to preserve the identity of the continent, without qualms. Africa does not have to be ashamed of its conservatism. On the contrary, it shows the way to healthy resistance to the dictates of the prevailing political correctness.