The document, he added, “caused a lot of harm to the Catholic faithful, and even beyond.”
Cardinal Ambongo has faced criticism of not only Christians, but also other faith leaders in Africa. He saw "angry laypeople, priests, religious men and women, and bishops who were very angry."
As president of the African bishops’ conference SECAM, he decided to act: "I wrote to all the episcopal conferences in Africa to say that we should not react emotionally. I asked each episcopal conference to meet, analyze the document, and let me know their reaction. And that is what the conferences did."
The outcome was a seven-page document that Cardinal Ambongo personally brought to Rome, to Pope Francis.
“On the day I arrived, Pope Francis received me. We talked about it, and I believe that from that point on, he changed his mind. And since then, there has been no more talk of ‘Fiducia Supplicans,'” Cardinal Ambongo believes. He pointed out that he made the reaction document public “with the pope’s permission”.
And, “It was not a statement against the pope, but he understood that it was a mistake on his part.”
When asked whether Pope Francis regretted releasing 'Fiducia Supplicans,' Cardinal Ambongo replied that he "can’t go into details because this is confidential information."
Pope Francis authorized him to publish the document titled "No to the blessing of homosexual couples in African churches": "If he authorized me to publish it, I can conclude that he at least understood our approach."
Picture: Fridolin Ambongo © François-Régis Salefran, wikipedia CC BY-SA, #newsBuvkmwzzag
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