Addressing a gathering of the Famille Chrétienne movement in Kinshasa, Cardinal Ambongo condemned what he sees as the West's "decadent morals," particularly its stance on family and children.

"As the West does not like children, they [Westerners] want to attack the basic cell of humanity which is the family" asserted Cardinal Ambongo.

Ambongo's comments were made on January 16 and have circulated widely in Africa through social media.

Cardinal Ambongo pulls no punches in his criticism of Western values in the audio. He asserts that Western societies are "losing ground in terms of value" due to their aversion to children. "Little by little, they will disappear" assures the Congolese cardinal.

"We wish them a good demise" he says, eliciting laughter from his audience.

A decadent culture

The cardinal, who also serves as president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), insists that Africa refuses the "decadent morals of the West. It is a decadent culture, it is the cultural and moral decadence of a society; a society in decline."

While acknowledging Africa's own challenges, he insists that homosexuality is not prevalent on the continent, except in isolated cases. However, he calls for respect for homosexual individuals as "creatures of God."

This is not the first time Cardinal Ambongo has voiced his concerns about Western influence. In a previous interview, he declared "The Church in Europe is dying" emphasising Africa as the future of the Church.

The audio recording also captures Cardinal Ambongo's discussion regarding the SECAM statement rejecting the possibility of blessing same-sex couples on the African continent, a stance supported by Pope Francis.

Despite dissent from bishops in North Africa who believe such blessings could be permissible under certain conditions, Cardinal Ambongo maintains that such practices would lead to scandal.

Sources

La Croix International

Catholic Herald

CathNews New Zealand

He issued a stark warning at the end of Bishop Cleophas Oseso Tuka's Consecration Mass.

Unless the Sudan war is halted in time, the violence and horror scenes will "spill over" to neighbouring countries, he said.

"It will spill over into South Sudan; that means we will have it at the borders of Kenya and Uganda."

At least 528 people have been killed and 4,599 injured since the war erupted on April 15.

Many more are thought to have died because critical services have been disrupted.

Van Megen acknowledged the international community's efforts to end the violence. Politicians from the warring factions are to blame, he indicated.

These factions are the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on one side and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the other. The RSF is the paramilitary force under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,

"The International Community is working very hard to get things back into place and up to now it hasn't really worked ... the two parties involved are not really ready to listen to each other," van Megan said.

"That war in Khartoum is happening because two political leaders cannot agree with one another and the whole population has to suffer because of it.

"Politics is a question of give and take. You negotiate, you sit around the table, but if you go into your own bastions and start to throw stones at each other, sooner or later you will hit somebody on the head and then it doesn't work anymore."

He also said Kenyans should see Sudan's violence as a warning.

Kenyans are experiencing rising political tensions and "a lot of accusations," counter-accusations and "suspicion," he said.

He urged Kenyan politicians "to sit around the table and come up with solutions for the good of the country, for every Kenyan from whatever tribe or language he might speak."

Kenyan Bishops

The Kenya Catholic Bishops Conference is also concerned and are expressing their solidarity with God's people in Sudan.

"Many people are walking down from north to south to seek foreign refuge, including our Religious men and women.

"We want to remember them at this particular moment as we send our greetings of condolences and pray with them," they said. Church leaders in Kenya are praying for peace to return to Sudan.

Sudan's rival factions arrived in Saudi Arabia on May 6 for direct talks.

"Sudanese are pinning their hopes on talks in Saudi Arabia between envoys of warring factions to end bloodshed that has killed hundreds and triggered a mass exodus," Reuters reported.

The US and Saudi governments have managed to bring both sides together.

"We ...urge both parties to take into consideration the interests of the Sudanese nation and its people and actively engage in the talks toward a ceasefire and end to the conflict," they said.

Source

• Apostolic Nuncio