Nigerian bishops warn against legalization of same-sex marriage

August 12, 2013 - Nigerian bishops have issued a warning against the legalization of same-sex marriage. “We confirm that a family consists of a man, a woman and children,” the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Ibadan, in southwestern Nigeria, said in a statement, the Fides news agency reported. “We empathize with people who live with homosexual and gay tendencies and call on society not to discriminate against them.” “We however firmly reject all attempts to enshrine these tendencies in the Nigerian constitution, and we appeal to every Nigerian to protect the traditional values of marriage and the family as a way of fostering a cohesive society,” the bishops said. They also lamented the violence afflicting northern Nigeria, rued the reinstitution of capital punishment, and said that the Year of Faith “has witnessed a new zeal and energy and zeal in the laity’s outreach in evangelization.”