In Gaborone, Botswana, activists celebrate a High Court decision that decriminalized gay sex on June 11, In response to a December Vatican document allowing blessings of same-sex couples, the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa, including Botswana, said they would provide a guide on how such a blessing may be requested or granted to avoid confusion on Catholic teaching.
AP Photo, File. Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Same-sex relationships remain prohibited in many African countries. One Nigerian priest, Schoenstatt Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke told NCR that the Vatican's new document "seems to be shrouded in ambiguity and many people are confused. Ugwoke is one of many priests across the African continent who have voiced strong criticisms of the new Vatican document.
He said there are currently two groups — those who agree with the declaration and those who oppose it on the grounds that it may change the church's position on marriage being a sacramental union between a man and woman. While the declaration approves blessings for same-sex unions by priests, it does not permit liturgical ceremonies or rites for those couples. When you bless something, you bless, you endorse," Ugwoke said.
In South Africa, Jesuit Fr. Nobert Munekani said there are those who are receptive to the declaration and those who are completely against it. Munekani, who is parish priest at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Orlando West, Johannesburg, said it is important that the declaration explored the possibility of blessing same-sex couples without any form of ritualization or offering the impression of a marriage.
Jesuit Fr. But that's clearly not what it is, and this still brings about confusions and anxieties among the faithful and the people of God. Dullaert, who is the founder of an LGBTQ support group at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Johannesburg, said the approval by the church hierarchy is an enormous step forward and a radical shift from the previous policies held by Pope Francis' predecessors. Back in , Dullaert and his Nigerian spouse, Sylvester, held a small ceremony at the Chapel of Our Lady in Amsterdam to celebrate their union.
