Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso called on Christian families this weekend to “rebel” against LGBT lobbies that wish to “impose same-sex marriage” on the world.
“While adopting the positive values of modernity, as active agents of the future of the world, African Christian families should rebel against the imperialism of certain lobbies and associations that advocate and want to impose same-sex marriage,” said Cardinal Ouédraogo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ouagadougou, in his Easter homily.
The cardinal’s words came in the wake of a Vatican declaration banning Catholic clergy from granting blessings to same-sex couples, a measure that has generated consternation among progressive clergy and laity especially in the German-speaking world.
Speaking during the Easter vigil at the Cathedral of Ouagadougou, the cardinal also reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on the indissolubility of Christian marriage as well as its opposition to polygamy and adultery.
Ouédraogo went on to condemn the “insidious imposition” of anti-natalist programs and abortion on African nations.
“Every Christian should, like Saint Joseph, be welcoming to human life, be open to it and protect it,” he declared.
“The ultimate witness incumbent on all Christians in this society involves seeking the things that are above and not those of the earth, which are ephemeral,” he said.
The Biden administration recently announced that it will reintroduce countries’ abortion policy as part of the State Department’s annual survey of global human rights, reversing a decision by the Trump administration.
As part of the official U.S. human rights program, the State Department will resume the practice of the Obama administration of pressing countries to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage, a position that has angered Africans who view the measure as an imposition of Western values.
When President Biden reinstated taxpayer-funded abortions abroad, repealing the Mexico City policy, African human rights activists warned of a neo-colonialist push to force Africans to abandon their values, which include appreciation for every human life including the unborn.
A group called Culture of Life Africa released a video titled “A Message for President Biden,” which begins: “We appeal to Joe Biden, please do not, do not, do not, sponsor abortion in Africa.”
“We all deserve the right to live. I stand against the funding of abortion in Africa,” declares another speaker.
Nigerian human rights activist Obianuju Ekeocha, a biomedical scientist and author, also decried President Biden’s overturning of the Mexico City policy, especially as it affects Africa.
“The experts in the halls of Western power disregard the views and the values of an entire nation in order to push their pro-abortion agenda,” Ekeocha stated in her 2018 book Target Africa: Ideological Neocolonialism in the Twenty-First Century.
“At the core of my people’s value system is the profound recognition that human life is precious, paramount, and supreme,” she stated. “For us, abortion, which is the deliberate killing of little ones in the womb, is a direct attack on innocent human life. It is a serious injustice, which no one should have the right to commit.”
Unfortunately, Ekeocha observed, in their efforts to impose an abortion culture, those in the West care little for what Africans want.
“It is time for the international community to listen to the voices of the African people and to desist from pushing abortion on them,” she declared.
The financing of abortion in Africa, Ekeocha notes, is part of a larger war on the African people. “Western nations, organizations, and foundations wage war against the bodies of African women” in a frontal attack on “female fertility,” she says.
“The insistence on reducing the population of Africa, no matter what the cost to the Africans themselves, is racism, imperialism, and colonialism disguised as philanthropy,” she states.