WelCom April 2024
The Coptic Orthodox Church has suspended its two-decade-long doctrinal dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church over the Vatican’s approval of same-sex blessings.
The Patriarchate of Alexandria and Coptic officials have labelled same-sex blessings as heresy. The Holy Synod of the ancient Coptic Orthodox Church, based in Egypt, announced the suspension on 7 March.
‘After consulting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family’ they wrote, ‘it was decided to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, re-evaluate the results achieved by the dialogue from its beginning 20 years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in the future.’
The Vatican’s publication of Fiducia supplicans was the catalyst for this decision. The document addressed blessings for couples in ‘irregular situations’, including same-sex relationships.
‘We cannot recognise that two people of the same sex form a couple’, an aide to the Orthodox Coptic Church’s Pope Tawadros II told La Croix.
‘The text is unacceptable, as is the explanation later provided by the Vatican. Pope Francis wanted to please Europeans but, for us, it is a huge heresy’, the aide pointed out.
‘The Bible in both Testaments condemns, warns against, and prohibits sexual practices between two people of the same sex’, asserted the Orthodox Coptic bishops.
The suspension of dialogue is considered a severe setback in relations between Rome and Alexandria. It follows a historic public audience between Pope Tawadros II and Pope Francis less than a year ago.
Source: La Croix International