NAIROBI, Kenya — In addition to theological reflections on marriage and the sacraments, the final report addressing the pastoral challenge of polygamy in Africa, which members of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) issued on March 24, draws attention to a wide range of social, cultural, and pastoral realities shaping the practice across the continent.
While reaffirming the Christian ideal of monogamous marriage, the 25-page report compiled by the SECAM commission — made up of selected theologians and professionals from relevant ecclesiastical disciplines — emphasizes that understanding the persistence of polygamy requires careful analysis of social change, legal frameworks, gender relations, and pastoral strategies within African societies.
The report is a direct response to the mandate that the multiyear XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops — known as the Synod on Synodality — gave Catholic bishops in Africa: “to promote theological and pastoral discernment on the issue of polygamy.”
Polygamy in a changing African social landscape
In the report, the SECAM commission members note that polygamy cannot be understood solely through the lens of traditional culture. African societies have undergone profound transformation in recent decades.
“The traditional environment has crumbled,” they said, leading to a climate in which many long-standing institutions and values are increasingly questioned. This transformation has also affected the dynamics of marriage and family life.
Sociological studies cited in the report identify infertility as one of the principal motivations behind contemporary polygamy, though the report emphasizes that the reasons are complex.
Despite modernization and evangelization, it notes that the practice of polygamy has not disappeared. Instead, “it remains alive and well” and, in some contexts, has even regained popularity.
One notable development the SECAM commission members highlight in the report is the changing role of women in African societies. They observe that women increasingly occupy key economic roles, particularly within the informal sector.
Legal frameworks across Africa
In the report, commission members also highlight the legal status of polygamy across the continent.
They note that roughly 30 African countries have legal frameworks that permit polygamy — either through civil law, customary law, or religious legislation. The list includes countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Morocco, and South Africa.
However, the report points out that legal recognition of polygamy does not necessarily indicate broad societal consensus. In many countries, women’s movements have increasingly challenged these laws.
“More and more women are speaking out against legislation in favor of polygamy, which is considered unfair and disrespectful of gender equality,” the report says.
This tension between cultural tradition, legal frameworks, and evolving social values forms a significant part of the pastoral context in which the Catholic bishops in Africa must address the issue of polygamy, the SECAM commission says in the report.
The question of women’s dignity
A central theme in the report is the dignity of women within both cultural and ecclesial contexts.
Pastoral responses to polygamy must explicitly seek “to enhance the dignity of women,” the report says. The report acknowledges that women sometimes choose polygamous arrangements for practical or cultural reasons — however, it raises theological questions about whether such choices correspond to God’s plan for human relationships.
From a biblical perspective, polygamy “does not promote the development of women as intended by God,” according to the report. Therefore, pastoral strategies that help Christian communities reflect critically on cultural assumptions about gender roles and marriage are important.
Economic vulnerability and the practice of polygamy
The report also links polygamy to economic vulnerability, particularly among widows.
One example the SECAM commission members highlight is the traditional practice of levirate marriage, in which a widow marries a relative of her deceased husband in order to secure protection and support for herself and her children.
While acknowledging the social security function of this practice, the report questions whether it can also lead to forms of exploitation and whether such arrangements risk reducing women to objects of exchange within family structures.
For this reason, the commission members highlight the importance of pastoral care directed specifically toward widows. Ensuring their “material and moral security” can help prevent situations in which women feel compelled to enter polygamous relationships for survival, the report states.
Hidden or ‘veiled’ forms of polygamy
Another issue raised in the report is what the SECAM commission members call “veiled polygamy.”
This term refers to situations in which individuals maintain multiple sexual relationships outside formal marriage, resulting in families in which children are born to parents who are not married to one another.
Although such situations do not present the same doctrinal challenges as formal polygamy, the commission members say they consider this harmful both to society and to the Church.
One difficulty, they note, is that social stigma often falls disproportionately on women raising children outside marriage. The absence of fathers also raises concerns about the well-being of children.
In response, the report calls for stronger pastoral formation within Christian communities so that believers can accompany families facing these realities with maturity and responsibility.
Preparing couples for Christian marriage
The commission members in the report repeatedly emphasize that prevention is as important as pastoral accompaniment.
Many cases of polygamy among baptized Christians arise from cultural expectations about fertility. In many African contexts, the inability to bear children can place intense pressure on a marriage, the report notes.
Therefore, the report calls for rigorous marriage preparation programs that help couples understand the Christian meaning of marriage. While the desire for children is recognized as a legitimate cultural value, the reports stresses that biological fertility is not essential to the sacramental reality of marriage.
Christian marriage, the SECAM commission members state, must be understood primarily as a covenant of love and fidelity rather than simply a means of producing offspring.
A broader question of inculturation
Throughout the report, commission members frame the issue of polygamy as part of a broader challenge of inculturation — the process of expressing Christian faith within diverse cultural contexts.
They acknowledge that the Church’s engagement with African cultures has evolved significantly since the missionary era.
While earlier pastoral approaches often treated polygamy primarily as a moral problem to be eliminated, today the Church must combine fidelity to the Gospel with attentive listening to cultural realities.
In their concluding reflections, SECAM commission members call for continued dialogue among Catholic bishops in Africa, theologians, and pastoral workers to evaluate existing pastoral models and, where necessary, “propose other paths, with the aim of offering to all the possibility of an encounter with Christ and his Gospel.”
In this way, the issue of polygamy is not simply a disciplinary question but part of the broader task of shaping an authentically African expression of Christian family life.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
