Archbishop Says African Synod Delegates Will Keep Opposing LGBTQ+ Inclusion

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya

Ahead of Rome’s Synod on Synodality’s final assembly in October, a Cameroonian archbishop has defended African Catholics’ opposition to LGBTQ+ inclusion and said the opposition would continue.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda made his argument in late August during synodal conversations that are being held each week by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network and the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar.

Nkea broached gender and sexuality topics because they had become such a flashpoint during last fall’s General Assembly of the Synod in Rome, which ultimately failed to mention LGBTQ+ people. A key part of this failure was opposition by Eastern European and African delegates. The archbishop explained, per Crux:

“‘When we went to the Synod, it was clear that Africa had to take responsibility for its own destiny. We knew we had to make our voice heard in the first phase of the Synod,’ Nkea said.

“He explained that making Africa’s voice heard was ‘not talking purely from a cultural background. . .[but] from the background of the traditions of our fathers and from the background of the teachings of the Church.’

“‘In presenting our points at the Synod, therefore, we did not want to be seen as presenting points of Africa because of the culture from which we came. Our stand had nothing to do with culture; it was about fidelity to the truth; fidelity to what Christ taught.'”

The archbishop also commented that the African bishops’ “vehement no” to Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican declaration allowing people in same-gender relationships to be blessed, was similarly about defending church teaching, not cultural issues. Nkea is president of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference, which published among the quickest and harshest responses to the declaration, saying, homosexuality is corrosive and “a clear sign of the imploding decadence of civilizations.” In the past, bishops in Cameroon have blamed gay priests for murder, compared being gay with child abuse, and said that they had “zero tolerance” for homosexuality while issuing support for criminalization laws.

Nkea made clear that for the upcoming assembly of the Synod in two weeks, African delegates “are going back to the second session with the same vehement rejection of that document,” and likewise would strongly oppose any proposals to ordain women. He argued that the delegates “do not buy the idea that people tell us that we are arguing from culture. And that we come from a culture that is still developing, and that is why we do not understand certain things.”

But Archbishop Nkea’s claims about African Catholics’ opposition to LGBTQ+ inclusion have been challenged, including by some faithful from his own country. Previously, Bondings 2.0 reported on comments by theologian Fr. Joseph Loïc Mben, SJ, an ethicist at the Theological Institute of the Society of Jesus, Cameroon, who welcomed Fiducia Supplicans as an ongoing development in church teaching. Mben wrote earlier this year:

“Development is not new in the Church, but it must be done in a manner consistent with Tradition. . .It seems necessary to me to specify that this text is a declaration which is a first position taken by the official Church in relation to a new situation. It is therefore not a definitive opinion on the matter. We can treat it as a prudential judgment which simply involves taking note of it even if we do not necessarily agree with the details expressed.”

As to the Synod, Fr. Ludovic Lado, S.J., a theologian originally from Cameroon, has argued that it seems likely delegates from Africa will resist any efforts to welcome LGBTQ+ people—and, in contrast to Archbishop Nkea, that this opposition is very much tied to social and cultural, not religious ideas. Lado wrote previously:

“Such resistance to change enjoys powerful popular support, especially so when it is linked to the inclusion of gay people in the life of the Church and the rights of LGBT+ people. The Church has room for all – Todos, todos, todos! (‘Everyone, everyone, everyone!’) – Pope Francis told the huge crowds of young people in Portugal last week. But his message that the Church should make use of the gifts of all its members and that it should be open to all – including LGBT+ people – is not getting through in Africa. The social matrix – especially in religious communities – remains largely homophobic.”

Last year, the Synod’s General Assembly was deeply divided over issues of gender and sexuality, despite the call for LGBTQ+ inclusion being a repeated and prominent theme for the two preceding years of local, national, and regional consultations. It is unclear if and how the assembly this October might take up such contentious issues. Some church leaders have been trying to signal that the assembly is about structures and processes, not specific issues.

If Archbishop Nkea is correct and a bloc of delegates remains strident to even mentioning LGBTQ+ people as existing in the church, never mind providing a welcome, it may very well mean that the future of synodality will be on perilous footing.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, September 18, 2024