In the greatest rebuke yet to Pope Francis, the Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday refusing to follow his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples and asserting that such unions are “contrary to the will of God.”
The statement, signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on behalf of the symposium of African national bishops conferences, marked the closest thing to a continent-wide dissent from the declaration Francis approved Dec. 18 allowing priests to offer such blessings.
That declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has sent shock waves through the Catholic Church, thrilling LGBTQ+ Catholics as a concrete sign of Francis’ message of welcome but alarming conservatives who fear core doctrines of the church are being ignored or violated.
This will be interesting! A new break away Pope?
They’re called antipopes. The last one was in the 15th century.
Call me a traditionalist, but I much prefer the antichrist.
I say, let them fight
Defying the choice of God seems like a bold choice. Almost like there are no actual rules or punishments. Weird.
New schism just dropped
Actual religion
The same God’s Will was used to justify black slavery. It sure is a versatile tool.
Looks like someone is trying to tell God what to do.
What are they gonna do about it? It’s not like they can write down their grievances on a piece of paper and nail it to a cathedral door.
You are responding to exactly what they are doing about the situation!
Time to add “a new schism in the Catholic Church” to the end of days bingo card.
The Catholic Church thought they could pour their brand of religion into the entire continent for hundreds of years, gaining loyal support and broadening their power. Looks like they just found out they exported the bigotry, but couldn’t force loyalty when they change the message.
This is the danger we keep seeing when people use a religion as a power vehicle, and wrap it in “fear of the other”. Doesn’t matter if it’s Catholicism or something else. We’ll continue to repeat history over and over because clearly it’ll work THIS time and that leader will be able to control it.
Here comes another schism!
African Orthodox now!
Well, the catholic church is basically a faschist organization by it’s organigram. Obey to the leader you fucks or go to hell (literally).
