Lusaka, 20 December, 2023 / 9:46 pm (ACI Africa).
Catholic Bishops in Zambia have directed against the application of the Vatican declaration on the possibility for members of the Clergy to bless “same-sex couples” and couples in other “irregular situations” explained in Fiducia Supplicans, which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) released on Monday, December 18.
In a Wednesday, December 20 statement, members of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) adopt the stance taken by Catholic Bishops in Malawi, who, in a collective statement dated December 19, directed that “blessings of any kind and for same sex unions of any kind, are not permitted in Malawi.”
In their three-page statement, ZCCB members that while the Vatican declaration does not endorse same-sex unions, the declaration has raised confusion among the people of God “as now it has become an issue of allowing the blessing of same-sex marriages.”
“In order to avoid any pastoral confusion and ambiguity as well as not to break the law of our country which forbids same-sex unions and activities, and while listening to our cultural heritage which does not accept same-sex relationships, the Conference guides that the Declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of December 18th, 2023 concerning the blessing of same-sex couples be taken as for further reflection and not for implementation in Zambia,” Catholic Bishops in Zambia say.
This directive prohibiting the implementation of the Vatican declaration in the Southern African nation is part of the ZCCB members’ three-point guidance following the release of Fiducia Supplicans.
