Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Praia LGBTI Association considers it important that the Catholic Church has approved blessings for homosexual couples, but argues that the fight must continue for legal recognition of unions.
The blessing “has a certain importance”, the president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) association, Sandra Tavares, told Lusa. But, given the discrimination that couples suffer, “the best path will be to continue the fight to obtain rights, legally”, she adds.
The leader talks about the fight for legal recognition of de facto unions or marriage between same-sex couples, 20 years after Cape Verde decriminalized sexual acts between people of the same sex – in Africa, many countries continue to persecute homosexuality.
The principle that Sandra hopes the Church understands is that “people have to have a family, because love is made in a family, we all have hearts and we are human beings”.
Around half a million people live in Cape Verde and, in terms of religion, it is a country with a large Catholic majority.
“The Church is quite influential”, said the leader, who believes that politicians do not do more to legalize the rights of the LGBTI community “due to a certain influence that the Church has”.
Sandra sees the blessing suggested by Pope Francis and published in December as the beginning of a path that, later on, could break down barriers.
For now, in Cape Verde, the Bible is still used by believers as an argument to attack the LGBTI community.
“Yes, this happens a lot,” said Sandra Tavares. “They say that being part of the LGBTI community is the work of Satan”, if not, “in the Bible there should be two Eves and two Adams”, in an allusion to the biblical figures of Adam and Eve, at the origin of a world based on the counterpoint between masculine and feminine .
On December 18, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church approved the possibility of blessing homosexual or “irregular” couples (other unions not recognized by the Church), in line with positions of inclusion that have been taken by Pope Francis .
But the “Fiducia supplicans” declaration raised doubts in the conservative sector of the church, especially among the African clergy , and the prefect of the congregation, the Argentine cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, had to clarify that it was a spontaneous blessing, not a liturgical one, and that It depends on the culture of each region.
Contacted by Lusa, the Diocese of Santiago, in the lee of Cape Verde, referred any comments on the matter to a position to be published soon.
The Diocese of Mindelo, in the windward region, responded with statements made by Bishop Ildo Fortes to Rádio Nova de Maria, published on the Vatican News portal, indicating that the two dioceses of the archipelago are preparing a joint note.
According to him, the two bishops follow Pope Francis’ position, based on the principle of mercy and that “the church is mother of all”.
“Even to get out of the wrong path wherever they may be, even for those who are in sin, a blessing, a light is needed”, said Ildo Fortes, with a question: “if we bless the fields, the animals, why don’t we have to bless people?”
The bishop of Mindelo made it clear that this is not a sign of approval: “marriage is between a man and a woman, there is no other way. The doctrine of the Church has not changed anything” and the December publication “is a pastoral document, each pastor will discern it”, he concluded.
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