The earlier version said the church should acknowledge that couples in same-sex relations offered “mutual aid” and “precious support” for each other in times of difficulty. The final version stressed that “there is no foundation whatsoever” to compare homosexual marriage to heterosexual marriage, calling heterosexual marriage “God’s plan for matrimony and the family”. “Instead, the bishops have taken a narrow view of pastoral care by defining it simply as opposition to marriage for same-gender couples,” he said. The new version used more vague, general language, repeating earlier church statements that gays “should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity” and that discrimination against gays “is to be avoided”.įrancis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group in the United States, said it was “very disappointing that the synod’s final report did not retain the gracious welcome to lesbian and gay people that the draft of the report included”. The final version eliminated those phrases and most of the other language that church progressives and gay rights groups had hailed as a breakthrough. The earlier version spoke of “accepting and valuing their (homosexuals’) sexual orientations” and giving gays “a welcoming home”. The previous, three-paragraph version had been called “Welcoming homosexuals.” The two-paragraph section of the final document dealing with homosexuals was titled “Pastoral attention towards persons with homosexual orientations”. The document, called a “relatio”, was issued at the conclusion of a two-week assembly, or synod, of some 200 Roman Catholic bishops from around the world.Īfter an initial draft was released on Monday, conservative bishops vowed to change the language, saying it had created confusion among the faithful and threatened to undermine the traditional family. The final version of a controversial Vatican document issued on Saturday radically revised its earlier wording on homosexuals, eliminating language that had talked more positively of them than ever before in church history. “If they appeal, if I have won all over at the lower level, be rest assured that the appeal will amount to nothing,” he said. Ikuforiji said that he believed in the rule of law and was confident that he would always triumph. “If the EFCC wants to appeal the case or whatever, it is the business of EFCC it is not my business,’’ he said. On his travails during the money laundering case brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ikuforiji said he believed that leadership came with trials and tribulations. The speaker urged the residents to wait till he launches his campaign in a few days time when he would roll out his plans in key areas. So, there is nothing wrong in having a consensus candidate,” he said. “Even President Goodluck Jonathan is the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. “You talk of consensus candidate, it is all part of the game there can be consensus candidate and we will not be the first,
Ikuforiji, however, said that he did not rule out the possibility of a consensus candidate emerging from the aspirants. “To contest is not an issue and to go round the membership of the party they know who is the best amongst the aspirants in the APC,” he said. On his chances, he said that it was not his first time of contesting an election and he had no fears.Īccording to him, the members of the party know the best person to choose among the aspirants.Īs a Speaker of the House, I contested to get to the Assembly and contested to become the Speaker. “It is the same best we are taking to the governor’s office so that the residents will have the globally accepted government,” he said.
The speaker said he had discharged his duties professionally and creditably at the legislative arm of government and he had begun a transition to the executive arm as he picked his form. “I believe very much in the future of the state and I know that the best is what the people deserve,” he said. NAN – Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly on Saturday picked an Expression of Interest form of his party, declaring his intention to run for the Lagos State Governorship seat.Ikuforiji, who picked the form at the All Progressives Congress (APC) state secretariat in Ikeja, told newsmen that he believed that the state deserved the best, which he was willing to give, come 2015.
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