VATICAN’S APPROVAL OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE AND THE RESPONSE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NIGERIA: AN APPRAISALON THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

Abstract

As part of reforms to make the Catholic church more welcoming to all persons, Pope Francis permitted priests to look kindly on queer couples seeking favours from God. The Vatican however, clarified that such blessings should not be conducted with any church rites that offer the impression of a marriage. This alteration in the church’s orthodox practice generated mixed reactions amongst the widespread of Catholic faithful in variousCatholic communities especially in the Catholic church in Nigeria. The announcement, in the form of a papal declaration titled “Fiducia Supplicans on the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings”, appears to overturn a 2021 ruling issued by the same office of the Vatican, the main reason why such blessings were impermissible by the Bishops conference of Nigeria on the ground that the church “cannot bless sin”. The researchers, based on the Vatican’s declaration conducted an appraisal on the response of the Catholic church in Nigeria in regards to the sacrament ofmatrimony which makes it clear that the church’s teaching on same-sex and other nontraditional relationships are barred from the sacrament of marriage and has remained unchanged.The researchers in executing the research adopted the analytical method of data analysis with the primary and secondary sources of data collection.