CV NEWS FEED // The plenary session of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church suspended all theological dialogue with the Catholic Church due to the publication of the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed blessings for “same-sex couples.”
According to the official Coptic website, the decision was approved during the synod held at the Monastery of Saint Anba Bishoy in Wadi Natroun (Northern Egypt) on March 7. The synod was headed by His Holiness Tawadros II, and attended by 110 members.
“The (Coptic) Church announced its opinion on the issue of ‘homosexuality’ through a statement issued by the Holy Synod,” according to an official statement:
The Church emphasized its rejection of same-sex relations. Supporting her opinion with many biblical verses that clearly declare the rejection of such relationships that are contrary to the human nature that God created.
The sixth of the nine official decisions made by the Coptic Synod reads:
After consultation with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family, it was decided to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, re-evaluate the results that the dialogue has achieved since its beginning twenty years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed.
Later in the document, the synod states that “the Coptic Orthodox Church affirms its firm position of rejecting all forms of homosexual relationships, because they violate the Holy Bible and the law by which God created man male and female.”
The statement specifies that the synod “considers that any blessing, whatever its type, for such relationships is a blessing for sin, and this is unacceptable.”
The synod’s decision is not the first problem Fiducia Supplicans has caused for the Catholic Church in ecumenical dialogue.
As previously reported by CatholicVote, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary said in December 2023 that he was “shocked” by the Vatican’s declaration.
“We always cite the Catholic Church as a beacon of traditional Christianity—the Church which always supports the traditional Christian values and moral teaching in spite of the fact that from many different angles it is attacked for this traditionalism and stubbornness,” Hilarion said.
But the new document is “deceitful but also dangerous,” Hilarion, because it leads many to believe that the Church condones immoral sexual behavior.
