バチカンのシノドス事務局が24日、第2研究グループによる「貧しい人々と地球の叫びに耳を傾ける」、アフリカ・マダガスカル司教協議会連合（SECAM）委員会による「一夫多妻制の司牧的課題」についてのそれぞれ最終報告書を公表した。
両報告書は、そのテーマの多様性において、教会のシノダル（共働的）な歩みを証ししている。「耳を傾け、見極め、寄り添い、福音に根ざして、あらゆる男女に寄り添い続け、現代の課題に応えていく教会」の姿だ。 最終報告書および5カ国語による要約は、シノドス事務局のウェブサイトwww.synod.vaで閲覧可能。
教皇レオ14世は、透明性と説明責任の精神に基づき、シノドス期間中に実施された考察と識別による成果を神の民全体と分かち合うため、これらの最終報告書の公表を指示しておられる。これらは世界代表司教会議（シノドス）の作業文書と見なされ、シノドス総事務局に提出されたことにより、研究グループは任務を完了し、解散したとみなされる。
＊第2研究グループ「貧しい人々と地球の叫びに耳を傾ける」最終報告書
「貧しい人々と地球の叫びに耳を傾ける」をテーマとする第2研究グループの最終報告書は、バチカンの総合的人間開発省のミハエル・チェルニー長官による考察を冒頭に掲げ、教会がいかにして貧しい人々と地球の叫びにより良く耳を傾けることができるかについて、同グループに委ねられた5つの根本的な問いに応えることを目指した。
そして、「貧しい人々と地球の声に耳を傾けることは、単なる牧会的選択肢ではなく、愛の二重の掟と善きサマリア人の模範に根ざし、教会の使命を構成する信仰の行為だ」という神学的確信に基づいている。チェルニー長官が序文で述べているように、「傾聴」という言葉は、出会い、問題の理解、行動、評価、そして霊的支援を含む包括的なプロセスを指し、自らを貧しいと感じる人々を含め、すべてのキリスト教徒に関わるものである。
したがって、同グループの活動の指針となる課題は、「貧しい人々の叫びに応えることは地球の叫びに応えることでもあり、その逆もまた然りであることを自覚しつつ、教会はいかにしてこれら二つの相互に関連する叫びにより良く耳を傾けることができるか」ということになる。
報告書は、採用された作業方法、直面した制約、そして得られた教訓を概説。教会内に既に存在するツール―小教区、基礎共同体、運動団体、カリタス機関、エキュメニカルおよび国際的なネットワークなど―を特定し、その豊かさを強調すると同時に、専門組織への不適切な委任という誘惑を克服するよう求め、すべての洗礼を受けた者に共同責任を想起させている。
具体的な提案の一つとして、主に障害者で構成される小グループから提言された「Ecclesial Observatory on Disability（障害に関する教会観測所）」の設立が挙げられている。これは、あらゆる周縁化されたグループに発言の場を与えるため、地方や地域レベルで再現可能なモデルとして提案されたものである。
神学的レベルにおいて、報告書は、貧しい人々や地球を真の神学的「場（loci）」として傾聴することから生まれる神学の必要性を強調し、「最も脆弱な共同体の神学者たちが教導文書作成に積極的に関与するように」と求めている。信者の養成には特に注意が払われ、信徒、修道者、神学生のための養成プログラムが検討されている。プログラムについては、単なる技術や社会分析としてではなく、霊的修練としての「傾聴」の能力、そして「実存的な周縁部との直接的な出会いを統合しなければならない」と指摘されている。
最後に、単に傾聴のための構造を持つだけでなく、その構成員一人ひとりを最も脆弱な人々の傍らに立つ宣教的な存在へと変容させることで、それ自体が傾聴の道具となり得る「シノダルな教会」というビジョンを提示している。
＊アフリカ・マダガスカル司教協議会連合の一夫多妻制委員会の沿革
「一夫多妻制」という問題に焦点を当てたアフリカ・マダガスカル司教協議会連合（SECAM）の委員会は、2023年10月に開かれた世界代表司教会議第16回通常総会第1回会合の要請に応えて設立された。同会合は、SECAMに対し、一夫多妻制に関する神学的・牧会的見極めを促進し、信仰に導かれつつある一夫多妻関係にある人々を伴走するよう奨励していた。これを受け、アフリカの教会は、その大陸機関であるSECAMを通じて専門家チームを設置した。
アフリカおよびその島々の各地域から集まった12名の専門家で構成され、教義神学・基礎神学、聖書学、司牧、教会法、人類学など多様な分野を代表するこの専門家チームは、対面およびオンラインで会合を開いた。
まとめられた草案は、シノドス事務局を通じて教理省に提出された。SECAMは、同省庁から前向きなフィードバックと、検討すべき具体的な指摘を受け、文書はさらなる精緻化のため専門家チームに返却された。暫定版は、2025年7月30日から8月4日までルワンダのキガリで開催されたSECAM総会において、司教や神学者らによって提示・討議された。この総会での知見が、文書の最終版に反映された。
総会での審議を経て、最終案はさらなる指針を得るため、シノドス事務局および教理省に提出され、24日、最終報告書が公表された。
＊SECAM報告書の概要
したがって、SECAMは、アフリカ大陸の文化的、人類学的、神学的文脈に根ざし、一夫多妻制という司牧的問題について有機的な考察を展開した。
報告書は、人間集団間、先祖、そして神との契約に基づいて築かれたアフリカの家族の神聖な価値を認めることから始まる。そこでは、子供は神からの祝福と見なされ、多くの子孫を望むことは共同体のアイデンティティの不可欠な部分を形成している。一夫多妻制の歴史的実在は、この視野の中に位置づけられる。この現象はアフリカに特有のものではないが、特にアフリカに深く根ざしており、司牧上の緊急性を帯びている。
聖書的分析は、その両義性を明らかにしている。旧約聖書では容認されていたが、新約聖書の啓示によって次第に超越されていく。そこでは、イエスが創造主の本来の計画を想起し、結婚の一体性と不可解性を明確に断言している。
そして報告書は、教会の教えを明確に再確認している。すなわち、「キリスト教徒の結婚は、文化的強制によるものではなく、神学的本質において一夫一婦制」だということだ。司牧的な観点から、SECAMは一夫多妻制のいかなる形態の承認も排除し、一夫多妻制を実践する求道者に対しては、「一夫一婦制の結婚への誓約を自発的に受け入れるまでは洗礼を授けない」ことを勧告する。これは排除や烙印を押すことではなく、キリストの憐れみに導かれた、忍耐強く敬意ある伴走である。
この司牧的アプローチの中心には女性の尊厳が据えられており、文化の中に具現化された福音宣教の模範として、イエスの母マリアが提示されている。結論では、霊的・実存的な周縁に生きる人々に対して教会の扉を開くことのできる「近接の司牧」へと道を開き、あらゆる人を、忠実な愛と契約へと招かれた神の子として認めている。
＊一夫多妻制に関する報告書の結論
報告書は、一夫多妻制が「今日でも、アフリカ社会において現実であり続けていること」を認めつつ、その存在と広がりは「各国の政策、支配的な宗教、伝統的な文化的影響によって異なる」とし、「こうした文脈において、福音の宣教と一夫一婦制の結婚関係を遵守するよう求める提案は、文化的理由によって正当化される一定の抵抗に直面することがある」とも指摘している。
また、「福音宣教の歴史を通じて、一夫多妻関係にある人々をキリスト教共同体へ受け入れる試みがなされてきたこと」を認めつつ、その形は「多様であり、時には同じ社会文化的空間内にあっても、教区ごとに、あるいは司教協議会ごとに異なる場合があった」とした。
そして、「教会が、すべての者の交わりと参加の中で、その共議的な性格を十分に生きようとする今、アフリカの教会にとって、「これらの形を共有し、教義的・司牧的に評価し、適切な場合には、すべての人にキリストとその福音との出会いの可能性を提供することを目的として、他の道を提案することが急務となっている」と強調。
さらも。「教会への受け入れを求める一夫多妻制の夫婦に寄り添うアフリカの教会の司牧活動は、結婚およびキリスト教家庭に関する教会の理解に忠実であろうとする試みとして現れており、個人や家族を受け入れ、伴走する必要性はますます明らかになっている」と指摘。「それは、教会や社会における家族の召命と使命について、福音によって啓示された真理が彼らに投げかける呼びかけに、より明確に答えることができるようになるためだ」と言明している。
報告書は結論として、「結婚の秘跡を単なる社会的慣習としてではなく、配偶者の聖化と救いのための賜物として理解できるよう助けるために、親密さと配慮に満ちた司牧的アプローチを持つことが緊急に求められている」とし、「召命と使命として、それは賜物として受け取られる」と述べている。
（翻訳・編集「カトリック・あい」南條俊二）
・・・・・・・
二つの最終報告書の公式要約英文は以下の通り。
【To Hear the cry of the poor and the earth Executive Summary of the Final Study Group 2 (Original Text: English)】
Study Group 2 explored how the Church can deepen its listening to the interconnected cries of the poor and the earth. Its Final Report begins with a reflective Preamble by Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Part 1 of the Report outlines how the Study Group carried out its work, the limitations and lessons learned, while Part 2 provides a synthesis of recommendations responding to the five questions entrusted to the group. Six appendices offer reflections and further details of recommendations.
Methodology
Study Group 2’s methodology was grounded in synodal principles: participation, diversity, encounter, discernment, and collaboration. Its membership brought together clergy, lay experts, theologians, and pastoral practitioners from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, and Oceania, deliberately ensuring diversity of geography, vocation, lived experience, and gender parity. The group met 23 times via Zoom from July 2024 to October 2025, supported by Dicastery staff.
Two specialised subgroups were formed. The Disability Subgroup, largely composed of persons with disabilities, contributed expertise and drafted Appendix B while the Theology Subgroup, composed of theologians engaged with communities experiencing poverty or marginalisation, drafted Appendix E.
The Study Group used multiple methods to gather global insights including:
- Analysis of Synod-generated materials which showed that they raised significant questions rather than offering answers, signalling a need for deeper listening and research.
- Four short surveys sent in five languages to bishops, ministries, organisations, theologians, formators, and Dicastery staff exploring obstacles to listening, effective practices, proposals for new structures, and reflections on formation.
- A session during the Second Assembly of the Synod.
- A worldwide call for written submissions.
- Partnering with USIG in a formation survey of Women’s Religious Institutes that generated more than 200 responses, contributing richly to the analysis of Question 5 (Appendix F).
- A global feedback loop that circulated draft recommendations widely producing responses from every continent, including 21 Bishops Conferences and 15 organisations and individuals, ensuring global testing and refinement of proposals.
The Study Group identifies several constraints that shaped its work including:
- Geographical gaps, particularly lacking a Middle Eastern member despite receiving some input from the region.
- Linguistic limitations, as English was the working language, affecting the depth of integration of insights expressed in other languages.
- Insufficient time and resources for culturally appropriate consultation with Indigenous communities, whose protocols require extended relational processes.
- Scope boundaries, intentionally excluding topics such as digital listening and LGBTQIA+ issues, which were expected to be addressed by other Study Groups.
- Limited time for a fully circular synodal process, which would have required more extensive local engagement and feedback loops with communities made poor or marginalised.
Several cross-cutting insights emerge from reflection on the group’s own synodal process:
- Synodality requires time, trust, and diversity: Truly synodal work depends on patient relationship-building across cultures and states of life, with an intentional effort to include women and people with lived experience of marginalisation.
- Listening must be relational and participatory: Authentic listening demands sustained, mutual relationships, especially with people who are poor, marginalized, or excluded. Structures alone cannot substitute for relational encounter.
- Listening to the earth requires new capacities: The group noted gaps in how local churches currently listen and respond to the cry of the earth, suggesting a need for new skills and deeper ecological awareness.
- Examples must be offered with care: The group struggled to balance the need for concrete examples with the risk of unintentionally privileging certain contexts. General principles were therefore emphasised to support contextual adaptation.
- Synodal processes are open-ended: Genuine encounter and listening unfold through iterative feedback loops, not linear planning. The group emphasised humility, openness to conflict, and trust in the Holy Spirit in discerning next steps.
Synthesis of Recommendations
Part 2 of the Report gathers the recommendations developed through the Study Group’s listening and discernment. They respond to five overarching questions given to the Study Group related to listening, linking community and service, networking, theological research, and formation.
Listening: Existing and New Means (Question 1)
Key themes included that: the Church already listens through parishes, ministries, participatory bodies, Indigenous Catholic groups, safeguarding structures, and international networks; listening must expand beyond passive consultation to deeper mutual relationships confronting fears, biases, and structural barriers; and the interconnection of the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth must be more intentionally integrated. Appendix A details the Church’s existing spaces, times, and processes of listening, while identifying obstacles and proposing improvements.
The 11 recommendations concerning means of listening included:
- Establishment of online platforms to share global examples of good practice (e.g., Laudato Si’ Action Platform).
- Encouragement of use of the Mass for the Care of Creation during the Season of Creation.
- Expansion of inclusiveness in participatory bodies, ensuring representation of vulnerable groups, women, and those from territories affected by climate change and conflict.
- Establishment of regional or international structures for listening to Indigenous Peoples and monitoring caste-based discrimination.
- Creation of an Ecclesial Observatory on Disability and adaption of this model locally to listen to other marginalised groups.
Linking Community and Service (Question 2)
Key messages were that social ministry cannot be delegated; all Christians bear responsibility for listening and responding and that two-way communication between parishes, ministries, bishops, and agencies is essential for shared mission. Appendix C emphasizes that responding to the cries of the poor and the earth is integral to the mission of the entire Christian community, not just specialists.
The 3 recommendations concerning linking community and service addressed:
- Strengthening communication and collaboration among pastors, bishops, ministries, and agencies.
- Requiring ongoing formation in social and ecological justice for pastoral personnel, with direct experiences of listening and encounter.
- Providing spiritual and pastoral support—chaplains, pastoral workers, theologians—to accompany those working in charitable and justice ministries.
Networking Initiatives and Rights-Based Advocacy (Question 3)
Key themes were that: the cries of the poor and the earth must be addressed together, not separately, recognising their structural interconnections; networking—across dioceses, regions, religious traditions, and civil society—strengthens effectiveness; and reflection, evaluation, gender analysis, and transparency are essential to improving listening and action. Appendix D stresses that charitable works, advocacy, research, and ecological care must be interconnected and mutually reinforcing.
The Report’s 7 recommendations concerning networking and combining different kinds of initiatives included:
- Promotion of integrated responses to both cries, using expertise and multi-level networking.
- Formation in Catholic Social Teaching of those engaged in social ministry, advocacy, conflict resolution, and alliance-building.
- Supporting spiritual nourishment and communal discernment practices, including spiritual conversation methods.
Theological Research That Listens (Question 4)
Key messages were that the lived experience of the poor and the earth is a privileged locus of theological wisdom and insight, and that theologians must cultivate intercultural competence, deepen relationships with marginalized communities, and work in transdisciplinary ways. Appendix E presents a vision for a synodal theology rooted in encounter with communities made poor and ecological communities.
The Report’s 7 recommendations concerning how theological research can listen to what those made poor and the earth have to teach include:
- Appointment of theologians from poor, marginalized, or underrepresented communities to advisory bodies across all levels of the Church.
- Facilitation of access to theological education for lay people, especially women from marginalized communities.
- Creation of global networks linking theologians with organisations working with people who are poor or ecological communities.
- Strengthening dialogue among poor communities, Christians of other confessions, and interreligious partners on issues of marginalisation and ecology.
- Enhancing communication training for theologians, including digital and pastoral communication.
Formation for Listening to the Poor and the Earth (Question 5)
Key themes were that formation should be shared across vocations—lay, religious, and ordained—fostering mutual esteem and collaboration and that listening must be taught explicitly, not assumed, and its transformational impact must be evaluated. Appendix F identifies practices that support formation for listening and highlights the need to integrate listening across intellectual, spiritual, relational, and experiential dimensions.
The Report’s 20 recommendations concerning the crucial area of formation included:
- Prioritising direct encounters with people made poor and vulnerable ensuring a diversity of voices such as women, children, Indigenous communities, and creation itself are heard.
- Recognizing persons made poor as agents of evangelisation, not just recipients of service.
- Teaching listening as integral to Catholic Social Teaching, advocacy, and spiritual discernment.
- Integrating ecological and social concerns.
- Ensuring access to formation for those on the margins, especially First Nations peoples, women, and people with disabilities.
- Providing resources for listening, intercultural competency, gender and cultural analysis, and responsiveness to the cry of the earth.
Conclusion
The Report articulates a synodal vision of listening that is relational rather than merely procedural, inclusive and attentive to those most often unheard, integrated across ministries, disciplines, and levels of the Church, and committed to ongoing conversion through encounter, discernment, action, and evaluation.
The Study Group sought to model the very synodal dynamics it recommends; diverse participation, humble learning, listening across boundaries, and responsiveness to the concrete cries of people and the earth. Its recommendations offer strategic pathways for strengthening the Church’s capacity to become ever more a community that listens with the heart of Christ.
【The Pastoral Challenge of Polygamy Executive Summary of the Final Report of SECAM Commission (Original Text: English)】
1. INTRODUCTION
The African family is built on covenant: covenant between human groups, covenant with ancestors, covenant with God. At the heart of this family, the child represents a priceless treasure, a divine blessing. The child perpetuates the lineage name while also helping to strengthen present life. Having numerous descendants is a gift from God.
It is in this context that the institution of polygamy must be understood. This refers to a marital system in which an individual is bound, at the same time, to several spouses. For a woman with several husbands, the term is polyandry. For a man with several wives, the term is polygyny. This is certainly the most frequent case. The term “polygamy” has become commonplace to describe the practice of a man living with several wives, because polyandry has almost completely disappeared. But this reality is not unique to Africa. It is universal. This is why it challenges the pastoral care of the entire Church. Nevertheless, the practice of polygamy is most visible on the African continent, and it is there that Christians feel most deeply affected.
2. POLYGAMY IN AFRICA, FROM YESTERDAY TO TODAY
The causes of polygamy are numerous. In agrarian or nomadic societies, the pursuit of a large family was driven by imperatives of survival and expansion. Marriage had a strong communal and religious dimension: it involved extended families and inscribed the union within a sacred order. Divorce was exceptional. Anthropological studies, however, show that even within polygamous societies, the symbolic ideal often remained monogamous: the first wife held a unique status, while the others occupied a secondary position. Subsequent contact with Islam and Christianity modified these structures, sometimes reinforcing, sometimes transforming, marital practices.
3. LISTENING TO BIBLICAL EXPERIENCE
To inform pastoral discernment, it is necessary to compare this cultural reality with the biblical understanding of marriage. In the Old Testament, polygamy is attested and legally tolerated. Patriarchs—Abraham and Jacob—as well as royal figures like David and Solomon, lived in polygynous relationships, often linked to the desire for offspring or the assertion of power. Mosaic law regulates these situations without elevating them to an ideal.
However, a theological movement runs through Scripture. The creation narratives present the union of a man and a woman as the original paradigm. The prophets, developing the theology of the Covenant, describe the relationship between God and his people as one of exclusive love. The wisdom literature extols fidelity to “the wife of one’s youth”, and the Book of Tobit offers testimony to a fully embraced monogamous ideal. Thus emerges a divine pedagogy: what was tolerated throughout history is not thereby proposed as a definitive norm.
The New Testament offers a crucial insight. Referring to the Creator’s plan, Jesus recalls the original unity of marriage: “the two will become one flesh”. In the spirit of Matthew’s antitheses, Jesus reaffirms the monogamous marriage willed by the Creator: one man and one woman (cf. Mt 19:4-5). The Apostle Paul incorporates this requirement into the life of the Church, asking leaders to be “husbands of one wife”. The revelation in Jesus Christ thus demonstrates that marital unity and exclusivity belong to the profound truth of marriage as willed by God (cf. 1 Cor 7,2; 1 Tim 3,2.12).
4. CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE: ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN
The form of marriage is rooted in the Christian theology of marriage, which itself draws inspiration from the word of God. The text of Genesis reminds us that: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them man and woman” (Gen 1,27). This shift from the singular to the plural clearly demonstrates the equal dignity of man and woman before God. The second, older creation text (cf. Gen 2,21-23) is more explicit on this point. Woman is taken from man. Man himself recognizes woman as his partner of the same nature: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman – Ishsha – because she was taken out of Man” (Gen 2,23). Is this not one of the places where the unique bond in the couple is affirmed: that of a man and a woman? It is indeed on these passages from the book of Genesis that Jesus relies to affirm the unique value of monogamous marriage.
In the Bible, the human couple is meant to transmit life, even God’s own life, thus continuing his work. However, one of the causes of polygamy is female infertility. While the question of motherhood is crucial, the term “mother” does not refer solely to the one who has given birth. In a biblical sense, the term “mother” is therefore broader than biological motherhood and encompasses other ways of giving and promoting life. This is fundamental for every woman.
From now on, the believer’s gaze is no longer obstinately fixed on biological fertility. The works produced by virtue render one even more immortal than offspring. Sterility is gradually embraced and transfigured. Thus, a spiritual fertility is proclaimed, a testament to the gratuitous nature of God’s salvation and the immensity of His love. Therefore, polygamy is not presented as a palliative to a situation of biological sterility.
5. PASTORAL EXPERIENCES
The pastoral approach implemented by the missionaries focused primarily on combating polygamy. Monogamous marriage was therefore a requirement for being or becoming a Christian. For the missionaries, polygamy was a form of enslavement of women and, as such, profoundly immoral. For the Fathers of SECAM, there could be no ambiguity whatsoever: there was absolutely no room for compromise with the official doctrine of the Church: “the pastoral approach to polygamists […] must avoid anything that could appear as a recognition of polygamy […] by the Church”.[1] The Fathers of SECAM encourage the promotion of the monogamous dimension of marriage by embracing the teachings of Scripture on the uniqueness and indissolubility of marriage.
In the contemporary African context, several pastoral practices have been adopted to address situations of polygamy. Some require a polygamous man wishing to receive the sacraments to choose only one wife, while guaranteeing justice and support for the other wives and their children. Others establish a “permanent catechumenate”, welcoming the individual into the community without access to the sacraments. Sometimes, the first wife is baptized when she is considered a victim of an involuntary polygamous union. Finally, “veiled polygamy” – unofficial multiple unions – requires specific support, often focused on the woman and children.
6. THEOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF PRACTICES
Baptism, by which a human being becomes a person in the Church – that is, a subject of rights and obligations (CIC/83, can. 96) – is the sacrament of faith that transforms us into the image of Christ. In the name of faith in the unity of sacramental marriage, which is closely linked to the sacrament of baptism, and knowing that the latter is a sacrament of character, it would be preferable not to have it brought forward for polygamous catechumens who request it. Doing so would create more problems than it would solve, especially considering the rights that flow from baptism, particularly the right to receive the other sacraments.
Therefore, it is recommended that polygamists who wish to identify with Christ through baptismal grace be thoroughly prepared, free themselves from certain cultural constraints, accept the Gospel message, adhere to the Christian ideal, and commit to monogamous marriage before receiving baptism. Thus, the Church will not baptize a polygamist based on a promise or who will continue to be so, even after receiving this sacrament. Ultimately, there is no need to anticipate the sacrament of baptism for polygamists, but rather a need for accompaniment within the framework of an inculturative pastoral approach, which opens pathways to a pastoral approach to polygamy.
7. A PASTORAL RESPONSE TO POLYGAMY
A patient and demanding preparation, geared towards a concrete commitment to monogamous marriage before receiving baptism, should be prioritized. This is not about rejection or stigmatization, but about accompanying individuals towards genuine conversion and full sacramental integration.
This pastoral care must be characterized by closeness, listening, welcoming people, and respect for their individual journeys. This pastoral care of proximity must also aim to uphold the dignity of women. Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, she is at the forefront of an inculturated pastoral approach to marriage and family. The proclamation of Gospel truth cannot be separated from mercy. The Church is called to support this aspiration, to strengthen marriage preparation, and to broaden the understanding of fertility beyond its purely biological dimension.
Finally, the issue is also ethical, anthropological, and ecclesiological. If marital union represents “the gift of oneself to the other”, one can ask how a man or woman can live this “gift of self” by giving themselves to several wives or husbands at the same time. Similarly, from the beginning, the Creator made them male and female. And He said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”. So they are “no longer two, but one flesh”. How can a man or woman in a polygamous relationship “become one flesh” with several wives or husbands? The Christian theology of marriage affirms that its unity and indissolubility stem from God’s creative design. The promotion of monogamy thus contributes to the effective recognition of the dignity and equality of men and women. The question of polygamy does not only concern a family structure; It refers to the truth of the Covenant and to the vocation of conjugal love as a visible sign of the faithful unity of Christ and his Church.
8. CONCLUSION
The Church’s pastoral work in Africa, accompanying polygamous couples seeking acceptance into the Church, appears as an attempt to remain faithful to the Church’s understanding of marriage and the Christian family. The need to welcome and accompany individuals and families is becoming increasingly evident, so that they may respond more clearly to the call of the Gospel’s revealed truth regarding the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in society.
This pastoral approach of closeness and attentiveness will foster a respectful and fraternal dialogue between these polygamous couples and the pastor (priest, bishop), the representative of the merciful Christ who seeks out the “lost sheep” and accepts to sit at the same table as tax collectors and sinners. It will thus open the doors of the Church to the children of God who languish on the spiritual or “existential” peripheries. This aims to help these people discover the infinite love of God manifested in Christ Jesus, who “did not come to judge men, but to save men through Him”.
[1] SCEAM, Recommendations on marriage and family life of Christians in Africa, «Catholic Documentation» (1981), 1021.
