Subject Fiducia Supplicans to “calm” Analysis in Ongoing Synod: North Africa Bishops

“Take the time to read and discuss this document and the explanatory note published on 4 January 2024 by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith,” CERNA members say about the DDF Press Release indicating that FS implementation will depend “on local contexts and the discernment of each diocesan bishop with his diocese.”

They describe FS as a document that invites the people of God “to re-examine and evaluate our ecclesial practice of discernment, and to look more closely at concrete ways of working towards reconciliation and communion.”

“It's an opportunity to assess our practical attitudes to welcoming and accompanying people,” CERNA members further say in their January 15 communique.

They continue, “As far as the pastoral practice of blessings is concerned, when a person individually asks for a blessing, with the corresponding disposition of the heart, it will be given.”

However, the Catholic Church leaders in the North African region say, “when people in an irregular situation come together to ask for a blessing, it may be given on condition that this does not cause confusion for the people concerned themselves or for others.”

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They invite the people of God under the pastoral care to “avoid any spirit of polemics, and to cultivate everything that contributes to the communion and unity of the universal Church.”

Since its release, FS has elicited mixed reactions and deep division among Catholic Bishops around the globe. 

On January 11, members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) said FS will not be implemented in Africa.

In a statement that SECAM President, Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo signed, Catholic Bishops in Africa said the blessing of “homosexual unions or same-sex couples” would bring about “confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities.”

Such blessings “cannot be carried out in Africa without” causing “scandals”, they said, and expressed their awareness about the fact that FS “caused a shockwave” in Africa and “has sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors.”

In an appearance on an Italian talk show on January 14, Pope Francis defended FS, underlining that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”

“The Lord blesses everyone who is capable of being baptized, that is, every person,” the Holy Father emphasized.

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