The Catholic Bishops of the Lagos Ecclesiastical Province have unanimously rejected the blessings of same-sex marriages in the community and entirely in the Church.
The Lagos Ecclesiastical Province comprises the Lagos Archdioceses, Ijebu Ode, and the Abeokuta Dioecies.
The bishops, however, made it clear and made their stance known in a communique signed and sealed by their said chairman and secretary, Archbishop of Lagos and Bishop of the aforementioned, most Rev. Alfred Martins and most Rev. Francis Adesina, respectively, after their plenary meeting on Thursday, February 8th, in Lagos.
The clerics, however, stated that they were in total agreement with the position of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), which declared and finalized no strongly to the blessings of same-sex unions in any of the churches or dioceses.
Stating that this is not allowed, and thus, God never asked that in the Bible either. They strongly believed, and according to the Holy Bible, it is a great sin for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman.
This aligns with the position of the CBCN and specifically of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar concerning the blessing of homosexual unions or same-sex couples.
In addition, it was stated and quoted during the meeting that “we affirm that the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage as the union of a man and a faithful lady or 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.
In addition, a document from the Vatican’s doctrinal office, approved by Pope Francis, said such a blessing would not legitimize irregular situations but be a sign that God welcomes all.
However, Pope Francis’ approval was strongly met with criticism.
