VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — An African cardinal participating in Rome’s Synod on Synodality has claimed that the results of the Synod will categorically be “welcomed by everyone as the will of God,” even if this involves approving “blessings” of same-sex unions, in contradiction to the Church’s perennial teaching on the grave sinfulness of homosexual acts.
Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa and President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, spoke at a Vatican press conference on the present Synod, employing all the typical euphemisms and talking points that have become the guise for heresy and the approval of grave sin within the Church’s hierarchy of late.
“No one has come here with his or her own agenda,” Besungu said, echoing a much-flaunted claim of Synod relator general Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich and other Synod leaders. “We are all brothers and sisters listening to the will of God for his Church.”
“I don’t think the synod’s goals consist in facing this way or that, but in a new way of being a Church, a new spirit,” Besungu said.
READ: Five cardinals write Dubia to Pope Francis on concerns about Synod, Catholic doctrine
Defending the novel inclusion of laity as voting members of a synod of bishops – which in the Church’s canon law is intended to function as a consultative body of bishops – the cardinal claimed for the laity a novel authority to speak in the Church’s name. The cardinal appeared to argue that all the baptized enjoy equality with bishops in the matter of teaching authority, ignoring the hierarchical distinction by which bishops enjoy the authoritative office of teaching the faith as successors of the Apostles.
“It is by virtue of baptism that we have the same responsibility before the Church, and I think all those present have the authority to speak on behalf of the Church,” the cardinal said.
READ: Vatican and Cardinal Fernández fire back at cardinals’ new dubia about the Synod on Synodality
Confronted by the National Catholic Register’s Edward Pentin on whether he would accept an approval of the “blessing” of same-sex unions should the Synod issue such a statement or decision, Besungu sidestepped the issue, claiming he did not want to state his own opinion on LGBT ideology.
Declining to cite any Church teaching on the grave sinfulness of homosexual acts or other related defined teachings on matters of sexual morality, the cardinal claimed, “The Lord Himself through collective discernment will tell us,” as though the Holy Spirit has not already spoken through St. Paul the Apostle, or the inspired text of Scripture, or the magisterial teachings of the past two millennia.
“No one has come here with his or her own agenda,” Besungu insisted, repeating what has now become the mantra of those whom Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has dubbed “masters of manipulation.”
“We are all brothers and sisters listening to the will of God for his Church,” the African cardinal said.
READ: FULL TEXT: Cardinal Zen issues strong appeal to bishops at Synod on Synodality
In a blistering critique of the claims of the Synod leaders, Cardinal Zen wrote in a recent letter to the bishops participating in the Synod, “Often they claim not to have any agenda. This is truly an offense to our intelligence. Anybody can see which conclusions they are aiming at.”
“They begin by saying that we must listen to all,” he said. “Little by little they make us understand that among these ‘all’ there are especially those whom we have ‘excluded.’ Finally, we understand that what they mean are people who opt for a sexual morality different from that of Catholic tradition.”
Bishops in Belgium and Germany are already “blessing” same-sex unions with no intervention from Rome, despite the Congregation, now Dicastery, for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) stating in 2021 that the Church cannot grant such “blessings” because God “cannot bless sin.”
The new head of the DDF, Cardinal Victor Fernández, has already signaled his own support for “blessings” of same-sex unions, and Pope Francis has also appeared to open the possibility of granting them by declaring such “blessings” to be a matter of “pastoral prudence,” according to which a priest can “discern” that in certain circumstances they are acceptable.
READ: Pope Francis to clergy: Decide for yourselves whether to ‘bless’ homosexual unions
Faithful bishops and priests are speaking out against such errors, with Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, reminding the laity that all sexual activity outside of marriage is gravely sinful and excludes a person from the reception of Holy Communion.
San Francisco priest Fr. Joseph Illo just published an open letter to Pope Francis, confronting the pontiff on his support of homosexuality.
“When you promote homosexuality, Holy Father, you hurt me and my parish. When you do not speak clearly, you make my priestly task very difficult. You have said that two men cannot ‘marry,’ and that homosexual acts are wrong, but you also encourage bishops who bless same-sex unions,” he wrote.
Fr. Illo went on to recount the story of a lesbian woman of his parish who points to the Pope in justification of her lifestyle.
READ: Priest to Pope Francis: ‘You are hurting my parish’ by promoting homosexuality
“A female student from my parish, who attends a Jesuit-owned university, ‘married’ another woman according to United States law,” the priest wrote. “She later surgically removed her breasts and uterus to appear like a man. She hates her mother for raising her Catholic, and her mother grieves the loss of her daughter and grandchildren.”
“But this college student points to you, Holy Father. She says you permit blessings for homosexual unions in Germany, and that you favor priests and cardinals who promote homosexual relations. She knows that you have appointed a European cardinal who promotes homosexual unions to lead the Synod.”
This week, Synod participants are discussing the question of wider “inclusion” for those who reject Catholic sexual morality, including “remarried divorcees, people in polygamous marriages, LGBTQ+ people, etc.”
It is widely anticipated that the Synod will publish some form of support or approval of these sinful lifestyles by declaring the possibility of “discerning” when “blessings” and the sacraments can be given to persons in these situations, following the lead of Amoris Laetitia, which the Pope has affirmed opened the door to the reception of the Eucharist for those living in adultery.
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