Congolese Sister Jos\u00e9e Ngalula did not participate in drafting the controversial section of the final report, despite being a member of the study group.<\/p>\n
The lone African member of a Vatican study group that published a controversial text on homosexuality in its final report did not participate in its drafting, raising further questions about the document\u2019s representativeness and relevance.<\/p>\n
Sister of St. Andrew Jos\u00e9e Ngalula, a Congolese theologian and member of Synod Study Group 9, told the Register that she \u201crefuses to enter into the debate regarding homosexual persons\u201d because \u201cthis is not a major pastoral issue in my community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI leave it to those for whom this is a \u2018major\u2019 issue to discuss it among themselves,\u201d she said via email in her native French.<\/p>\n
Instead, Sister Jos\u00e9e said she focused \u201csolely\u201d on the text\u2019s consideration of active non-violence \u2014 addressed in a separate section of the report \u2014 which was consistent with her \u201cAfrican context, shaped by wars and various other circumstances that inflict human suffering and challenge the conscience.\u201d <\/p>\n
The revelation that Sister Jos\u00e9e, a member of the International Theological Commission who has previously spoken out against \u201cthe ideology of sexual orientation,\u201d did not contribute to the controversial section places further scrutiny on the text and its drafting process.<\/p>\n
The text in question, a section of the study group\u2019s \u201cfinal report\u201d that focused on the \u201cexperiences of people of faith with same-sex attractions,\u201d has been criticized for downplaying the sinfulness of homosexual relations and for questioning whether Church teachings on sexual morality can ever be considered definitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is simply false,\u201d said the Dutch Cardinal Wim Eijk in a commentary for the Register. \u201cThe intentions with which God created the human person in the context of marriage and sexuality are universal truths, established once and for all, that human beings can know spontaneously through natural moral law, and can be found in Sacred Scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Process Under Scrutiny<\/p>\n
Prior to Sister Jos\u00e9e disclosing that she did not participate, the drafting process of Study Group 9\u2019s treatment of homosexuality has already been criticized for being inconsistent with synodality, which encourages listening widely. <\/p>\n
For instance, the section on homosexuality included criticism of the Catholic apostolate Courage International in the testimony of a man who identifies as gay, but no members of Courage were themselves consulted in drafting the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince no Courage representative was involved in the process, the study group became problematic and seems to contradict what synodality intends: the greater engagement of all relevant voices,\u201d Father Brian Gannon, Courage International\u2019s executive director, recently told the Register.<\/p>\n
Additionally, several members of Study Group 9, which was originally charged with proposing a synodal method for addressing \u201ccontroversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues,\u201d are known for promoting controversial approaches to moral theology, including on sexual issues.<\/p>\n
Italian moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, for instance, has argued that contraception can be morally permissible for married couples in some circumstances based on Amoris Laetitia (\u201cThe Joy of Love\u201d), and that homosexual relationships \u201cunder certain conditions\u201d could be \u201cthe most fruitful way\u201d for those with same-sex attractions to form good relationships; moral theologian and Jesuit Father Carlo Casalone has suggested that moral absolutes taught by the Church must be subjected to the interpretation of conscience; and Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Study Group 9\u2019s coordinator, has been hailed by LGBTQ-advocacy groups as \u201copen\u201d to changes on the issue.<\/p>\n
The other members of Study Group 9 include Archbishop Filippo Iannone, an Italian canon lawyer whom Pope Leo XIV made the prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops; Father Piero Coda, a dogmatic theologian and the secretary-general of the International Theological Commission; and Stella Morra, a fundamental theologian who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.<\/p>\n
The study group\u2019s final report does not indicate which of its seven members participated in the drafting of different sections of the 32-page document. The synod office did not respond to questions from the Register seeking clarity on the matter.<\/p>\n
African Voices Absent?<\/p>\n
Although she did not contribute to the controversial section on homosexuality, Sister Jos\u00e9e has spoken out on the topic before. While in Rome in October 2023 for the Synod on Synodality, she described campaigns to legitimize same-sex relations as \u201cagainst my African culture and against the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never support an opinion that encourages these ideologies of sexual orientation: never, never,\u201d she told the Register at the time. <\/p>\n
Regarding the 2026 final report, Sister Ngalula did not respond to follow-up questions about whether the section on homosexuality is weakened by not including a perspective from Africa, given that it proposes solutions that seem universal in nature, such as \u201cdeepening our understanding\u201d of \u201cthe meaning of homosexuality from the perspective of biblical anthropology.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Congolese theologian\u2019s refusal to contribute to the section on homosexuality underscores the significant divide between African Catholics and those Catholics in the West advocating for greater acceptance of same-sex relations.<\/p>\n
At the Synod on Synodality session in 2023, African participants and others pushed back against perceived efforts to soften the Church\u2019s prohibition of same-sex relations, and the term \u201cLGBTQ\u201d was left out of the final report. Later that year, Pope Francis\u2019 document authorizing blessings of persons in same-sex couples, Fiducia Supplicans (\u201cSupplicating Trust\u201d), sparked outrage across the African continent, prompting several clarifications from the Vatican.<\/p>\n
African theologians and prelates have suggested that if synodality does not adequately incorporate the perspectives of Africa and the global south, it \u201cruns the risk of being reduced to a slogan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWill the south be allowed to speak? Will the north listen to the south?\u201d, the Nigerian theologian and Dominican Father Anthony Akinwale asked rhetorically in the lead-up to the 2024 synod session.<\/p>\n
More broadly, the synodal processes have raised concerns about the possibility of highly-engaged lobbying groups manipulating the process and disproportionately shaping perceptions of what faithful Catholics believe.<\/p>\n
Along with all the final documents of the Synod\u2019s study groups, Group 9\u2019s report will be reviewed by relevant Vatican dicasteries and the General Secretariat of the Synod to draw up \u201coperative proposals\u201d at the Holy Father\u2019s request, according to Vatican News. Pope Leo XIV will then evaluate the proposals emerging from the study groups and \u201cmay,\u201d the Vatican says, \u201capprove them.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n