The Pope did not change any official Catholic
position when he stated that gays
should not be marginalized or judged But the effects of his words could be transformational in parts of the world where homophobia is institutionalized. This is especially true in sub-
Saharan Africa and other parts of the developing
world.
Catholicism has exploded in sub-Saharan Africa over
the past century, from 1% of the region in 1910 to
21% in 2010, according to the Pew Research Center.
Attitudes about homosexuality in sub-Saharan Africa
are also some of the least accepting in the world. A
June 2013 Pew report found that 98% of Nigerians
say society should not accept homosexuality, as well
as 96% of Ugandans, and the numbers are similarly
high in neighboring countries. “The Pope’s
comments will have significant resonance in many
African countries, including Nigeria, Cameroon and
Uganda, and also in the Caribbean,” says Graeme
Reid, director of the LGBT Rights Program at Human
Rights Watch.
Catholic leaders there are often active in the fight
against gay rights, sometimes claiming it is a
Western notion to avoid. In Nigeria, Cardinal John
Onaiyekan was seen as giving tacit support for
parliament’s bill in May that criminalized gay
marriage, relationships, and membership to gay
rights groups. Catholic bishops in Uganda, a 42%
Catholic country, joined other Christian leaders to
encourage Parliament to pass the anti-homosexuality
bill in 2012. In Cameroon, a 40% Catholic country,
homosexuality is illegal.
“Marriage of persons of the same sex is a serious
crime against humanity,” Victor Tonye Bakot
Archbishop of Yaounde, preached there last year.
“We need to stand up to combat it with all our
energy.” Earlier this month in the Dominican
Republic, a 67% Catholic Caribbean country, Cardinal
Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez referred to
President Obama’s nominee for DR’s ambassador by
the anti-gay slur “maricón.”

The Pope’s comments will now challenge these
bishops to adopt a different tone. Change in the
Vatican has always moved at glacial pace. But when
it does happen, it often starts in small ways in local
parishes. “A shift like this could affect everything
from the kinds of homilies preached at Sunday Mass,
to how much leadership bishops take on anti-LGBT
equality measures, to whether bishops speak out
when laws making homosexuality a capital crime are
being considered,” explains Marianne Duddy-Burke,
executive director of LGBT Catholic organization
DignityUSA. And, she continues, the pope’s example
matters greatly for gay Catholics, especially those in
the least accepting environments.
“For gay people to hear a Pope speak of us as people
of faith and goodwill who should not be marginalized
in society, rather than as threats to civilization, is a
great shift,” she said.