“Marriage remains exclusive between a man and a woman,” said the Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa in their response to the December 18 Fiducia Supplicans, a document concerning the blessing of people in irregular situations issued by the Vatican Dicastery of Doctrine and Faith with the approval of Pope Francis.

In the Thursday, December 21 statement signed by the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops (SACBC), Bishop Sithembele Sipuka said, “The document makes it clear that it is not putting forward a change of doctrine about marriage to include people of the same sex.”

“It reaffirms marriage as an “exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children,” he added.

Since its publication on December 18, the Vatican’s declaration on the blessing of people in irregular situations has sparked different views. In their collective statement, the SACBC Bishops said, “Nobody is outside God’s grace, and couples living in same-sex unions may not be denied a blessing when they spontaneously request it.”

They go on to say that “such a blessing is seen as an opportunity to avail oneself of God’s mercy with a potential for conversion and openness to God’s will and direction.”

The Catholic Bishops of South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini further say in their December 21 statement that “the suggestions offered by the declaration may be taken as a guide with prudence,” and that the SACBC “will guide further on how such a blessing may be requested and granted to avoid the confusion the document warns against.”