By CHIDINMA EWUNONU-ALUKO

Pope Francis on Tuesday signed a decree that forbids Priests or Bishops from blessing same-sex marriages in Roman Catholic Churches.

The Oyo State Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman, Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.

Akinyemiju was reacting to the viral news which stated that the Pope had approved blessings for same-sex couples in a new Catholic document.

The Oyo CAN Chairman remarked that the Pope has also directed all bishops and priests in the world to condemn the barbaric and satanic acts called Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender And Queer (LGBTQ) rights.

“What is happening is the media hype and misinterpretation of the document issued by the discovery of Doctrine of Faith.

“The document, known as “Fiducia Supplicants”, is all about blessing in general but not particular on blessing of gay marriage.

“What the document has said is not about an approval of same sex marriage,” Akinyemiju said.

Also reacting to the development, the Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Oyo, Most Rev. Emmanuel Badejo, said the official position of the Catholic Church is that LGBTQ rights should not be entertained on earth.

According to Badejo, the declaration of Fiducia Supplicans on Dec. 18, is a follow up to the dicastery’s declaration of 2021, known as “Responsum” which opposed such a blessing and did not go down well with decadent European countries which had embraced same-sex unions.

“The current document is a queer explanation of that. Most media analyses so far are opaque and misleading.

“One sure fact in the declaration is that it does not change the Church’s teaching on the irrevocable validity of Christian marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

“Please study the document. My initial stand is that a blessing can only be pronounced on whatever follows God’s will as the Church has always taught.

“Any attempt to attenuate that meaning of a blessing to encompass so called formal and informal forms is a contradiction in terms.

“Please let us speak up and teach our faithful as every priest has a duty to do; and not parrot what the media say, as a few have been doing already.

“The times are critical and our people die for lack of knowledge,” Badejo stressed.

Similarly, the Bishop, Diocese of Lagos West, Methodist Church Nigeria, Rt. Rev. Oluyinka Akande, says sex is given by God as an expression of love to be shared and enjoyed exclusively between a husband and wife.

Akande says the bible leaves no room whatsoever for confusion or ambiguity where homosexual behaviour is concerned.

“We see no place for same sex within the context of a Christian worldview. Jesus, when expressing his understanding of the scriptural foundation for the divine purpose for marriage, referred to its origin in the creation account.

“From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2: 24), what other evidence do we still need against practice of same sex,” he said.

Akande emphasised that the practice of same sex is one of the signs of end time, that is condemned by the Bible.

“Leviticus 20: 13 says ‘if a man lies with a male as with a woman both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them,” Akande stressed. (NAN)

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