(LifeSiteNews) — The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has stated that “there is no possibility of blessing same-sex couples or same-sex unions” following the Vatican’s December Declaration Fiducia Supplicans.

Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri, Nigeria, stated in an address to the 2024 First Plenary Assembly of the national bishops’ conference on February 18 that the “ambiguity” of Fiducia Supplicans has disrupted Catholic unity and “added to our pains.” Ugorji therefore stated that the gathered prelates “must continue to teach our faithful that there is no possibility of blessing same-sex couples or same-sex unions in the Church in Africa.”

Owing to “confusion and pushback” throughout the Church regarding the implementation of blessings for same-sex couples laid out in Fiducia Supplicans “we must, as Pastors with the pastoral task of safeguarding the deposit of faith in its purity and integrity, uphold the teaching of the Church based on Holy Scripture and Tradition,” Ugorji said.

“Homosexual acts are of grave depravity which are intrinsically disordered and, above all, contrary to natural law. In furtherance of our pastoral and prophetic mission, we must also continue to stress that God loves the sinner unconditionally and calls him to repentance so that he might live,” the archbishop added.