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Some bishops are welcoming the news, some are approaching it with caution, while others are outright refusing to implement it.
Here’s a timeline of how the controversy over same-sex blessings has unfolded.
The Job Service Office of the members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in Rwanda organized a month-long campaign to raise awareness of the need to embrace vocation and technical education in the East African nation.
Survivors of sexual violence in South Sudan need to be helped, the Coordinator of the Catholic Health Commission (CHC) in the East-Central African nation has said, and proposed the reestablishment of a trauma healing facility in the country.
Medical graduands at St. Francis Schools of Health Sciences (SFRASH) in Uganda’s Catholic Diocese of Lugazi have been urged to seek for and prioritize the will of God in their professional duties.
“We need the joint effort of the most directly affected countries and the international community to prevent this tragic reality,” Pope Francis said.
Tensions have risen in the Eastern Catholic Church in the Indian state of Kerala as the deadline approaches to implement a universal liturgy.
Catholic Bishops in Malawi have prohibited the implementation of the Vatican declaration on the blessing of “same-sex couples” and couples in other “irregular situations”, which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (DDF) released on Monday, December 18 under the title, Fiducia Supplicans.
A day after the release of Fiducia Supplicans, the Monday, December 18 Vatican declaration on the blessing of “same-sex couples” and couples in other “irregular situations” released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (DDF), a Catholic media entity in Ghana organized a discussion that sought “to create more clarity” on the declaration.
“Our savior who is going to be born is a Savior of possibilities.” This is the message of Bishop Joseph Mary Kizito, the liaison Bishop for the Migrants and Refugees department of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).
Stephen Cardinal Brislin has called for prayer for an end to the Israel-Hamas war following the reported December 16 attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza and on the Centre for Disabled Children, which the Missionaries of Charity run within the Parish compound.
The Director of the National Laity Department of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) has cautioned the youth in the East African nation against abortion and urged them to respect life.
Bishop François Abeli Muhoya Mutchapa of Kindu Diocese in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is calling for active participation in the Central African nation’s general elections scheduled for December 20.
The calls from over two dozen human rights advocates for the U.S Congress to get Nigeria back to the list of religious freedom violators is a “wake up” call for the West Africa nation that is Africa’s most populous nation, the Catholic Archbishop of the country’s Abuja Archdiocese has said.
“Our joy must outweigh every sorrow,” Archbishop of Abuja Archdiocese in Nigeria has said in his homily on December 17, Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent that invites the people of God to “rejoice always” as is captured in Philippians 4:4.
On the occasion of the annual International Migrants Day marked December 18, the President of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CEPAMI) in Angola has appealed for the creation of a “reference structure” to assist migrants.
The Vatican has issued new guidance on the topic of blessings of same-sex attracted people, stating that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations.
Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of South Africa’s Johannesburg Archdiocese has called on religious leaders across the world to push their respective governments to sign the United Nations Conventions on Statelessness.
Members of The Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (LSOSF) serving vulnerable communities in Uganda have increased their reach in the East African nation, thanks to a boost by the Pontifical charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The Institute of Salesian of Don Bosco (SDB) has addressed electricity challenges at a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by procuring a new generator.