“Nigerian Archbishop Comes to Defence of Gays and Criticises Western Efforts to Limit Population Growth”: The Tablet

writes:

The Archbishop of Jos has stressed that the Catholic Church in Nigeria is opposed to any discrimination of gay people.

Earlier this year, Nigeria adopted a law that hands out 14-year sentences to anyone entering a same-sex union and bans public displays of affection between homosexual couples.

At the time, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama announced the Church’s support for the legislation. The move was widely seen has giving Catholic support to punitive discrimination of gay people.

But speaking at a press briefing on the Synod on the Family at the Vatican today, the archbishop said the Church only supported the elements of the law that set out that marriage is between a man and a woman. He added that there had been a “gross misinterpretation” of this by the media.

“We are not supporting the criminalisation of people with different sexual orientations,” Archbishop Kaigama stressed. “We would defend any person with homosexual orientation who is being harassed, who is being imprisoned, who is being punished.”

more (via Fr James Martin, SJ)