29th January, 2024
Pope Francis has expressed confidence that critics of blessings for same-sex couples, except Africans, would gradually accept his position.
According to Reuters, the pope said in an interview published on Monday that Africans were a “special case” in the opposition of bishops and many other people in the continent to homosexuality.
The pope allowed blessings last month in a document called Fiducia Supplicans (Supplicating Trust),. This caused a debate within the Catholic Church.
“Those who protest vehemently belong to small ideological groups,” Francis told Italian newspaper La Stampa. “A special case are Africans: for them homosexuality is something ‘bad’ from a cultural point of view, they don’t tolerate it
“But in general, I trust that gradually everyone will be reassured by the spirit of the ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ declaration by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: it aims to include, not divide,” the pope said.