The Punch  --------- The Catholic Bishops of the Lagos Ecclesiastical Province, comprising Lagos Archdiocese, Ijebu Ode, and Abeokuta Dioceses, have said they would not bless same-sex marriage.
The bishops’ position was contained in a Thursday’s communiqué issued after their January 26 plenary meeting in Lagos.
This position is believed to contravene Pope Francis, who formally permitted Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions, which had been argued to have violated the Catholic Church doctrine.
In the Catholic Church, a blessing is a prayer or plea, usually delivered by a minister, asking God to look favourably at the person(s) being blessed.
Speaking through the communique, signed by their chairman and secretary, Archbishop of Lagos and Bishop of Ijebu-Ode, Most Rev Alfred Martins, and Most Rev Francis Adesina, respectively, the bishops declared: “No to blessing of same-sex unions.”
They said they were in “total agreement with the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and that of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar concerning the blessing of homosexual unions or same-sex couples.”
“We affirm that the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage as the union of a man and a woman in a stable and exclusive relationship, open to bearing children, remains the same. We also affirm the Church’s teaching on human sexuality and urge the faithful to be guided by it,” they said
The Vatican had earlier in 2021 decreed that the Catholic Church would not bless gay marriages because God “cannot bless sin”.
However, there was a twist in 2023 when Francis hinted that he would be open to having the Catholic Church bless same-sex unions.