The National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) has reaffirmed its stance on homosexuality, that marriage is between a man and a woman.
This comes after Pope Francis, who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, recently allowed priests to bless same-sex couples. In a document issued by the Vatican recently, Pope Francis said priests should be permitted to bless same-sex and “irregular” couples, under certain circumstances.
However, in a statement issued on 21 December, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Cameroon) denounced the new position announced by Pope Francis, saying homosexuality is an abomination.
Bellow is the statement:
𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 “𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬”.
In the face of semantic abuses designed to distort the value of realities and the true meaning of the notions of family, couple, spouse, sexuality and marriage.
In face of the wave of indignation, questioning, and concern that the Declaration “Fiducia supplicans” on the question of the blessing of homosexual couples has aroused among the people of God.
In the name of the truth of the Gospel and for the sake of human dignity and the salvation of all mankind in Jesus Christ.
We, the Bishops of Cameroon, on the subject of homosexuality and the blessing of “homosexual couples”, unanimously declare the following:
1. In conformity with our 2013 Declaration on Homosexuality, we firmly reaffirm the truth of the Church, Mother and Teacher, which teaches the sacredness of the sexual identity of man and woman created in the image of God (Gn 1, 26), of the dignity of their sexuality and of marriage which founds the family. The human person is created male and female: “Male and female he created them” (Gn 1:26). This invariable difference, which is the foundation of their relationship and complementarity, is fulfilled in the bonds of marriage.
2. Homosexuality falsifies human anthropology and trivializes sexuality, marriage and the family, the foundation of society. In African culture, this practice is not part of family and social values. It is a flagrant violation of the heritage bequeathed to us by our ancestors. In the history of peoples, homosexual practices have never given rise to societal evolution, but are clear signs of the implosive decadence of civilizations. In fact, homosexuality sets humanity against itself and destroys it.
3. The profound identity of sexuality is misunderstood, hijacked and perverted outside the conjugal relationship of man and woman. Consequently, homosexual acts are not “sexual”, but “relations against nature”. (Rom 1:26)
4. Marriage is an institution that legitimizes sexual relations and filiation for the foundation of a new family. It is the union of a man and a woman who commit to a life as a couple, to found a family and to live together in love. Homosexual unions are not marriages. It distorts the meaning of marriage by reducing it to a sterile, hedonistic and perverse bond: “the infamy of man with man” (Rom 1:26).
5. Men and women have the natural right to each assume the specificity of their nature. This right is invariable, irreducible and structuring, and is to be considered in the context of the couple, sexuality and the family, as the basis for fatherhood in the case of a man, and motherhood in the case of a woman. The free orientation of sexuality brandished by the promoters of homosexuality is a negation of this right.
6. Homosexuality is not a human right. Rather, it is an alienation that seriously harms humanity, because it is not based on any value proper to the human being: “it is an abomination.” (Lev, 18, 22). Rejecting it is in no way discrimination, but a legitimate protection of the constant values of humanity in the face of a vice that has become the subject of a claim to legal recognition and, today, the subject of a blessing.
7. Literally, “to bless is to speak well of.” And to say good by a gesture of blessing a “homosexual couple” would be to encourage a choice and practice of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to God’s revealed purposes. We therefore declare disagreement with any form of blessing that tends to recognize “homosexual couples” as a state of life.
8. Faithful to the constant teaching of ecclesial Tradition which declares acts of homosexuality to be intrinsically disordered and contrary to natural law (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2357), We, the Bishops of Cameroon, reiterate our disapproval of homosexuality and homosexual unions.
