This might have been made not to be about religion or sectoral beliefs. But can we actually do without religion? Can our life on earth possibly be extricated from the influence and effect of our religions, faiths or creeds? Each can make do with whatever answer that suits him. This is about the same thing with morality. How divergently people view morality is an issue and this is still reigning in the study of philosophy. Also, what information people consume — and, in most cases regurgitate, both as individuals and as members of society — matters a lot. In many instances, information in circulation has direct effects on relationships and acquaintances. It is most beneficial when matters are carefully viewed and properly digested before opinions are formed and disseminated of such matters. But the world is way too much in hurry now.
On December 18, 2023, the Vatican came up with answers to questions (Dubia) put to it among which was the controversial and potentially volatile issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. Lest we forget, in August 2023, five cardinals presented a dubia to the Pope. A dubia or dubias in the Catholic Church are formal questions presented to the Pope and the Dycastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican. They are usually questions that are meant to elicit a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response from the authorities of the Church without theological argumentation.
Dubia is the plural of ‘dubium’, a Latin word which means “doubt”. They are usually raised by Cardinals or other high-ranking officials of the church. The dubia are meant to seek clarifications in the doctrines or the teachings of the church.
The response of the Vatican has thrown the Catholic Church in the eye of the storm again. While the current wave of controversy may not be anything new to the evergreen institution, the difference this time is the speed of information dissemination and consumption. It could be choking. Indeed, the media, expectedly, is feasting voraciously on the official position of the Vatican, which is the official position of the Catholic Church on the vexatious topic. It is a media blitzkrieg, way beyond what the Nigerian media are currently doing with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s resolution of the Rivers State political crisis — after Nigerians were relieved to see Ondo State pulled back from the brink of a dangerous political cliff. The simplistic similarity in the two issues is that the resolution by the high authorities has left more people confused than before the intervention of their Excellencies.
As usual, the Catholic Church, as an institution, has come under another form of onslaught, and modernity is aiding the fast-spread of very many variants of the same-sex marriage issue from the Vatican. It is worthy to note that the dubia of August 2023 were about five main issues. They included the contention that the Divine Revelation should be reinterpreted given the current cultural and anthropological changes. The second one has to do with what some referred to as “the widespread blessing” same-sex unions were receiving and the contention that it is in accordance with revelation and magisterium. There was also a dubium on Synodality in which the contention is that synod is a constitutive dimension of the church because the church is by nature synodal. There was also a demand for a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer to the issue of the theology of the church which some say has changed, such that the sacramental ordination of women be conferred. Another one is the insistence that forgiveness is a human right and that the insistence of the Pope on the duty to absolve everyone always so that repentance is not necessarily a condition for sacramental absolution.
Although these dubia had been on the table since August, the one that has been of utmost interest to the world is the second one, on same-sex marriage. It was like to set off reactions and it is not surprising that it has. The magnitude and colourations might be the annoying angle to it all. The issue of homosexuality, in simple terms, has been converted to and has remained a constant avenue to launch all kinds of assaults on the Church. Those behind the canons, those pulling the trigger and those providing the fodder must know that same-sex marriage is an attack not just on the Catholic Church, it is an attack on humanity. The church’s stoic — and also strong — resistance to the bid to force it to accept the anomaly called homosexuality has pitted the institution against a very influential section of the media.
Many Nigerians remember the hostile reaction of some foreign governments to the passage of a legislation prohibiting and criminalising same sex marriage in Nigeria in 2013, especially after it was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2014. Nigeria even received subtle threats from some of the most powerful countries of the world, as if condoning and supporting the crime in their locality must be the same in our locality. The case of “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” is meaningless here because from the foundations of the earth, biology has remained the same and human physiology has no third gender. There is no ‘meat’ or ‘poison’ in same-sex marriage, it is all poison.
When culture, anthropology, and divine laws are considered, homosexuality is simply unreasonable. It is anti-nature and also stands simple logic on its head. The source of human growth and development is the family. The family is at the root of the very existence of man and the insistent attack on the source of human is like reversing the laws of God and nature. Fudicia Suplicans — the document on the pastoral meaning of blessings still asserts this view. The document approved by Pope Francis indicates that Roman Catholic priests can administer blessings to same-sex couples as long as they are not part of regular church rituals or liturgies. The document also says such blessings would not legitimise irregular situations but that it is a sign that God welcomes all, regardless of their state.
Many Catholics are not just confused, they are irked and even angry. They wonder why the Vatican would issue such a document in the first place, giving prominence to homosexuality. The assurances of the Holy Father that “The Church has a very clear understanding of marriage: an exclusive stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman naturally open to procreation. Only this union can be called marriage” is not even assuaging the many hurt Catholics. It is also about the same thing with non-Catholics who are always on the lookout for opportunities as this to ignite their harsh criticism of the Church.
Many Catholic Bishop Conferences in Africa have offered clarifications and assurances on the issue. Catholic Bishops in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana South Africa among others have spoken and they are all in sync. They spoke like the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) which said the recent pronouncement of the Pope on same-sex marriage does not in any way change the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage. “The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria assures the entire people of God that the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage remains the same. There is, therefore, no possibility in the Church of blessing same-sex unions and activities. That would go against God’s law, the teachings of the Church, the laws of our nation and the cultural sensibilities of our people.”
We the roused laity should take assurances from this and see it as more important that sordid attempts at ruining the beauty of nature we know so well and are used to.
After all said and done, one thing stands incontrovertible: The Catholic Church is legendary for many reasons.
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