(LifeSiteNews) — The Catholic bishops of the Ivory Coast have issued a statement urging priests in the country to not perform blessings of homosexual “couples” or any other “irregular situation.”

“We your Archbishops and Bishops, your spiritual guides of the Catholic Church in Côte d’Ivoire, reaffirm our attachment to the values ​​of the family, of the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman, as God has intended since the beginning. We therefore ask ordained Ministers to refrain from blessings of same-sex couples and couples in an irregular situation,” said Mgr Marcellin Yao Kouadio, president of the conference of bishops of the Catholic Church of Cote d’Ivoire, in a December 27 statement.

Following their president’s statement, the bishops wrote, “According to Mgr Marcellin Yao Kouadio, this decision of the pope risks creating confusion and scandal that the blessing of same-sex couples could generate within the local Church. Continuing, he explained that this is all the more justified since, according to the constant teaching of the Church, “acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered” (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona Humana Declaration, n. 8), and are contrary to Natural Law. ‘They close the sexual act to the gift of life and do not proceed from a true emotional and sexual complementarity. They cannot receive approval under any circumstances (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2357). This teaching of the Church is based on Scripture which considers same-sex unions to be serious and abominable depravities (Gen 1:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1Co 6:10; 1Tm 1). , 10),’ he maintains.”

The Ivory Coast bishops’ full statement, viewable here, is also published below:

”We your Archbishops and Bishops, your spiritual guides of the Catholic Church in Côte d’Ivoire, reaffirm our attachment to the values ​​of the family, of the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman, as God has intended since the beginning. We therefore ask ordained Ministers to refrain from blessings of same-sex couples and couples in an irregular situation,” declared Mgr Marcellin Yao Kouadio president of the conference of bishops of the Catholic Church of Cote d’Ivoire .

The spiritual guide who spoke in Yamoussoukro, this Wednesday, December 27, 2023 on the feast of Saint John the Evangelist called all of Christ’s faithful to prayer, serenity and trust in God.

According to the president of the conference of bishops of the Catholic Church of Cote d’Ivoire, knowing the culture of ”our people strongly attached to the values ​​arising from natural law in matters of marriage and family, we note that the reception of this possibility given by the Fiducia Supplicans Declaration to bless same-sex couples is problematic in our ecclesial context.” And added that ”This offends our ancestral and cultural values, and gives the impression that our Church approves and encourages an intrinsically bad reality, unnatural and contrary to our habits and customs.”

According to Mgr Marcellin Yao Kouadio, this decision of the pope risks creating confusion and scandal that the blessing of same-sex couples could generate within the local Church. Continuing, he explained that this is all the more justified since, according to the constant teaching of the Church, “acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered” (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona Humana Declaration, n. 8), and are contrary to Natural Law. ”They close the sexual act to the gift of life and do not proceed from a true emotional and sexual complementarity. They cannot receive approval under any circumstances (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2357). This teaching of the Church is based on Scripture which considers same-sex unions to be serious and abominable depravities (Gen 1:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1Co 6:10; 1Tm 1). , 10),” he maintains.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published on December 18 the Fiducia Supplicans Declaration on the pastoral significance of blessings. The publication of this Declaration has sown enormous confusion and doubts in the minds of the people of God in Côte d’Ivoire.