Catholic martyrs were canonized after an African king had them executed for not sleeping with him
Pope Francis will be flying to Uganda in order to praise Uganda martyrs who rejected gay sex from the country’s former king.
The head of the Catholic Church will visit Uganda in October, which has recently enacted one of the worst anti-gay laws in the world.
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi has confirmed the Pope has accepted the invitation to attend the celebrations to mark 50 years since the canonisation of the Uganda Martyrs.
The Vatican is yet to confirm the visit.
The martyrs, who were killed between 1885 and 1887, refused to have sex with the gay King Mwanga II of Bugunda, now part of Uganda.
In a report released by Sexual Minorities Uganda, it proved it was not true that homosexuality is ‘un-African’ and it existed long before British colonialized the country in 1894.
Researcher Ambrose Mukasa said: ‘It is documented that King Mwanga II had many young men in his palace and was sodomizing them at his will.
‘When missionaries introduced Christianity and some of the young men were baptized and taught about the dangers of homosexuality, they started denying Mwanga the usual “pleasure” he used to get from them.
‘Mwanga reportedly became annoyed and went wild wondering how mere pages had started disobeying him. He clashed with the missionaries.
‘He instructed the killing of all the young men who disobeyed him – with the executions taking place between 1885 and 1887.
‘The murdered young men were considered martyrs because they resolved to die for their new religion rather than surrendering their bodies to the king.’
Junior Mayema, an African LGBTI activist, said: ‘The irony is that the martyrs were killed for resisting the homosexual advances of the Bugandan king, Mwanga.
‘Sort of flies in the face of the “homosexuality is un-African” script.’
The martyrs were canonized in 1964 by Pope Paul VI.
by Joe Morgan
Source – Gay Star News
