Coalition calls redefinition of marriage a "sad, unjust and lamentable situation"
ROME — The coalition of African bishops will be a major player at the upcoming Synod on the Family in the Vatican this October.
As a foretaste of the strength of their convictions, here below we publish the official statement released Wednesday, July 8th, by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex “marriage” in all 50 states.
The letter also comes in response to the recent referendum in Ireland and other similar legislation supporting the LGBT agenda, as well as attempts to impose that agenda on the nations of Africa.
The official statement was signed by Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, President of the Nigerian Bishop’s Conference, and His Excellency William Avenya, Bishop of Gboko, and Conference Secretary.
Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, Nigeria, who serves as Director of Communications for the African Bishops, commented on the role Africa will play at the October Synod on the Family, in light the US Supreme Court and similar decisions, and continued attempts by certain members of the German, French and Swiss episcopates to push through what some consider a heretical agenda, as evidenced in the confidential, closed-door meeting at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome last May. He said:
meeting of the bishops of Africa and Europe which took place in Maputo, Mozambique — at the same time as the
meeting of some bishops at the Gregorian University in Rome last May — already established that it is desirable for the Universal Church to take more seriously the African resilience on family values as a way of revitalizing other parts of the world that have become barren of such pro-life motivations.”
In Bishop Badejo’s latest weekly article for Nigeria’s national papers, he presented the bishops’ statement, which we publish below.
Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, Bishop of Oyo
Veritatis Splendor [The Splendor of Truth], in 1993. Paraphrasing the questions of modern man, the pope asked: “Do the commandments of God, which are written on the human heart and are part of the Covenant, really have the capacity to clarify the daily decisions of individuals and entire societies? …. Also, an opinion is also frequently heard which questions the intrinsic and unbreakable bond between faith and morality, as if membership in the Church and her internal unity were to be decided on the basis of faith alone, while in the sphere of morality, a pluralism of opinions and kinds of behavior could be tolerated, these being left to the judgment of the individual subjective conscience or to the diversity of social and cultural contexts (
Veritatis Splendor, 4).”
To illuminate these perplexities and guide the faithful, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have issued a statement on morality matters arising across the world. Below is their teaching.
And today we celebrate...