Why African bishops say no to ideological colonization which is out to destroy the family
Last June African bishops met in Ghana to prepare the Synod for the Family; this very important meeting was supported by ACN. The final document – the voice of the African Bishops in the Family Synod – is now available.
This fundamental document explains the point of view of Africa regarding family and highlights the huge “fight” Africans are facing regarding the aid and “support” given by NGOs and UN organisations that have a “clear” agenda to change African culture and destroy the family.
The document is a denunciation of a “new type of slavery” and calls upon the Secretary General of the United Nations and other global organisations “to end the filthy campaigns that promote a civilization of death on our continent”.
The bishops of Africa and Madagascar have issued a joint declaration adopted last June (8-11 June 2015) in Accra (capital of Ghana) at a meeting of the whole African and Madagascar episcopate, This is preparatory to the ordinary synod of the family which will open on 4 October.
The statement was signed by 45 African prelates including 32 presidents of episcopal conferences representing 40 African countries and Madagascar, ten cardinals and three bishops. It urgently appeals to political leaders and also “the sons and daughters of our beloved African continent” asking everyone to” respect, love and serve Africa in truth”. The release of this document coincides with the opening week of the New York summit of Heads of State to adopt a global development plan for the coming years up to 2030.
In the tradition of the African Pope St. Gelasius, the bishops invite political leaders to “listen to the voice of their conscience” and remember that “every human person will be accountable to God for his actions.”
Political and legal agents outside Africa are actively promoting “health and sexual and reproductive rights” and “gender perspective” on the African continent. The African bishops unequivocally denounce the deceit of neo-colonialist policies that, “as a condition of development assistance”, impose on Africa condoms, contraceptives, abortion services, purely technical and immoral sex education and deconstruction of gender stereotypes.
The bishops especially target the Maputo Protocol and General Comments No. 2 of Article 14 which put particular pressure on African governments to legalize or decriminalize abortion and to provide their people with universal access to modern contraceptives. They note that this deadly programme “driven by external agents in Africa”, is also found in pan-African political statements, such as the Maputo Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Continental Policy Framework for promoting health and sexual and reproductive rights; the Declaration of Addis Ababa on Population and Development in Africa after 2014, and the African Common Position on the development program post-2015.
The bishops of Africa and Madagascar say they ” unanimously injured in the depths of [their] heart ” by the ” terrifying resurgence of colonialist spirit”. Africans are not subservient partners of global governance agents. They have a human and spiritual contribution to make to humanity at a time when the family and faith are so seriously threatened.
The statement has already been sent personally to the Heads of State and African governments, the UN Secretary General and the leaders of pan-African institutions, among others.
