“Bad timing”: SECAM President Says Fiducia Supplicans “damaging” to Synodal Process

“There are some who have made the connection that the Synod on Synodality means approval of homosexual couples and homosexuality,” the Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said. 

Since its release, FS has evoked mixed reactions and deep division among Catholic Bishops across the world. The Prefect of DDF called upon each Bishop to “make discernment” on implementing FS.

In Africa, Catholic Bishops issued a “consolidated summary” of their responses against the possibility of blessing couples as suggested in FS. 

In their five-page response to FS, SECAM members said they “do not consider it appropriate for Africa to bless homosexual unions or same-sex couples because, in our context, this would cause confusion and would be in direct contradiction to the cultural ethos of African communities.”

The Catholic Bishops said the “spontaneous” and non-liturgical blessings, which FS proposes, “cannot be carried out in Africa without” causing “scandals.”

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In the January 25 press conference, Cardinal Ambongo said the response of SECAM members has helped return calm which had been disrupted by the release of FS.

“I am happy to note that since the publication of my message on January 11, calm has returned to Africa and communion has returned with Pope Francis,” the member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap.) said, adding that FS had “created a negative situation” among Catholics and other people of God on the continent.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.