The secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi stated that the East African bishops’ recent condemnation of same-sex unions is not “at variance with” Pope Francis’s remarks on homosexuality.

“What the 100 bishops (including archbishops and cardinals) from the eight countries did was simply in this regard to affirm the definition of marriage as an indissoluble (that is, lifelong and therefore no divorce!) union of love between a man and a woman (that is, not people of the same sex nor with species other that human beings!) open to procreation (that is, with an inherent readiness to have children),” Father George Buleya said in a statement. “This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches and this is what the Church has held and passed on for centuries.”

“The teaching of the Catholic Church has always been that the homosexual condition is disordered, but not sinful in itself,” he added. “It is in line with this teaching that His Holiness Pope Francis in July 2013 said that he would not judge anyone for their sexual orientation. However, once a person with this orientation or indeed a person without this orientation indulges in homosexual acts, the Church has always taught that such acts must always be judged as objectively evil and totally unacceptable.”