SECAM: SECAM’s President Calls for Africa’s Viewpoint on Vatican’s Document that Seems Ambiguous

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

Following the release of a document titled “Fiducia Supplicans” (The supplicating trust) on the pastoral meaning of blessings that was released on Monday, December 18, by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith, President for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) have called upon all African Episcopal conferences to share their views concerning the declaration that seems ambiguous with varied interpretations, to have a consolidated response from the continent.

“I am writing to you, dear Presidents, to ask for your opinion on the above-mentioned Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, so that we can draw up a single, synodal pronouncement, valid for the whole Church in Africa,” Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo Besungu appealed in a statement shared with AMECEA Online, Thursday, December 21, stressing that the declaration has led to bafflement in the continent.

“The ambiguity of this declaration, which lends itself to many interpretations and manipulations, is causing a great deal of perplexity among the faithful,” said the member of the Order of Franciscan Minor Capuchin (OFM. Cap.), as he points out to his brother priests, “I believe that, as pastors of the Church in Africa, we must speak out clearly on this issue in order to give clear guidance to our Christians.”

Cardinal Ambongo in his message addressed to all the Presidents of National Episcopal Conferences noted that once the leadership from conferences share their thoughts about the Vatican’s declaration where the main concern is on the blessing of couples in irregular situations and of same-sex marriage, “SCEAM will be in a position to issue a pastoral declaration on the subject, which would serve as a general guideline for all the local Churches on our continent.”

Referencing the synthesis report of the first session of the XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that was held in October, the Cardinal who is the Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), highlighted that Episcopal Conferences and Continental Organisations have a crucial role in “safeguarding the faith and culture of the people, in order to avoid the risk of uniformity and centralism.”

“Episcopal Conferences played a decisive role in the first phase of the synodal process. The process brought out the need for synodality and collegiality at the continental level. Bodies operating at these levels contribute to the exercise of synodality, respecting local realities and processes of inculturation. The Assembly expressed confidence that by these means, the risk of uniformity and centralization in the government of the Church will be overcome,” Cardinal Ambongo made references to the synthesis report chapter 19, d.

He intends that the conference’s opinion be shared with the SECAM General Secretariat by the beginning of the second half of January 2024.

The Cardinal concluded by wishing the people of god a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year provoking the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary “who merited the gift of salvation for the whole world,” that her Yes, may “Teach us to welcome the Word of God, the Word made Flesh, so that we too can bring salvation to the people of our time.”