When Pope Francis gave the green light for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to issue its controversial 2024 declaration Fiducia Supplicans, authorising the blessing of persons in same-sex unions, the aim was presumably to fill a pastoral void and reach out to a constituency often alienated from the Catholic Church.
Under the heading of unintended consequences, however, one clear outcome of the declaration was the emergence of a new papal candidate: 65-year-old Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who also serves as the elected leader of the African bishops as president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
