The Pope’s same-sex wahala

Nigerians are up in arms, getting emotional over the Pope’s same-sex wahala contained in his 18 Dec document, Fiducia Supplicans. This document explains how priests should deal with those living disordered lives who come forward for a blessing.

There are five categories of Catholics living disordered marital lives identified in the document. They include persons cohabiting, civil marriages not blessed in Church, polygamous relationships, married, divorced and remarried persons, and those in same-sex unions.

Why are Nigerians obsessing over same-sex unions, which is not a problem in this country, and ignoring others that are?

Blessing same sex unions shouldn’t worry us this way in Nigeria because it is not our problem. At least, not yet. Have we forgotten that same-sex unions remain a crime in Nigeria? For those who have forgotten, the 2014 Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act is very much operative. It prescribes a 14-year prison sentence on anyone who enters such a union. Religious leaders who “witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union” risk a 10-year jail sentence on conviction. The law not only bans making a public show of this aberrant relationship but also forbids operating a club or organisation that promotes gay displays and lifestyle.

What concerns Nigeria

There is a reason why same-sex marriage shouldn’t be our primary concern. What should be of concern are the other three relationship categories that the document identifies. The big issues in the Nigerian Catholic community are what to do with couples in polygamous marriages, those whose civil marriages are not blessed in the Church, and couples who divorce and remarry. Those are the Nigerian problems, so why are we not paying attention to what the document says about them?

Wetin come concern us with the Pope’s same-sex wahala, which is primarily an Oyibo problem?

We should be more concerned about those we openly sympathy with – people in those other categories that we see every day in Church. Isn’t it  interesting that the Pope puts polygamy at par with LGBTQ people? Should a priest turn away those who have contracted civil unions but cannot receive Holy Communion because their marriages have not been blessed in the Church? What about those who divorced for no fault of theirs and remarried? Is it fair that they are denied Catholic rites and labelled as being in disordered marital relationships? Think for a moment; it is through the eyes of our own people that we will appreciate why some Oyibo are sympathetic to those in peculiar marriage situations.

Catholic Christians understand that blessing sinners is not an endorsement of their sin. God loves sinners but hates their sin. No priest will facilitate the unification of what is sinful before God.

There is another fundamental truth that is buried in these emotional arguments. It is that no man can bless another, not even the Pope. Only God blesses. In certain contexts, what we call blessing is merely an intercessory prayer for God to have mercy on a sinner or a person in a difficult situation. No person in this condition who runs to a priest for guidance and blessing should be denied the opportunity. Doing so, denying such a person the blessing they requested, means that the priest is sitting in judgement over the life choices of the supplicant.

The ordinary blessing they will receive is different from a priest blessing the person’s choice of lifestyle, which the Church considers against the natural law. Pope Francis has not crossed this boundary and I doubt that he ever will.

The Pope on same-sex wahala

In the final analysis, it is correct to say that the Pope authorized blessings for same-sex couples, as many news outlets have reported. Unfortunately, this is being misinterpreted to mean that he authorized gay marriage, which is far from the truth.

The Pope’s document distinguishes two types of blessings – the formal (ritual) blessings done in sacraments and the spontaneous blessings given by a priest to a penitent who humbly approaches a priest to ask for it. Fiducia supplicans focuses on the latter and guides priests on how to approach the matter in five different relationship situations.

A priest does not bless others – he intercedes for others by asking God in a prayer to do so. The document brings into bold relief the concept of God’s mercy for those in “irregular” relationships who recognize their errors and are in genuine need of God’s mercy and pardon.

We shall not tire from explaining and insisting that Fiducia supplicans does not approve of blessings for same-sex unions, contrary to the impression being created through ignorant and sometimes willfully distorted media reports.