SECAM’s new report on polygamy calls for deeper cultural engagement, legal awareness, and pastoral care to affirm women’s dignity in Africa.
Newsroom (26/03/2026 Gaudium Press )The pastoral challenge of polygamy in Africa has drawn renewed attention from Catholic leaders, as the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) released a landmark report on Tuesday, March 24. The 25-page document offers an ambitious, multidimensional reflection on how social, cultural, and theological factors intersect in shaping polygamy’s persistence across the continent.
Compiled by a commission of theologians and experts in relevant ecclesiastical disciplines, the report was prepared in response to the mandate of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops — better known as the Synod on Synodality — which tasked African bishops with promoting theological and pastoral discernment on the issue.
Changing African Realities
The SECAM Commission warns against viewing polygamy as merely a relic of traditional culture. “The traditional environment has crumbled,” they observe, pointing to the profound social transformations reshaping African societies. Economic pressures, urbanization, shifting gender roles, and the erosion of customary institutions have all contributed to redefining marriage and family life.
Infertility remains one of the most commonly cited reasons for polygamy, yet the report emphasizes that the motivations are complex. Despite modernization and decades of evangelization, polygamy “remains alive and well,” the commission notes — and, in some places, has even regained acceptance.
A key factor in this resurgence, the report explains, is the evolving role of women. Increasingly active in informal economies and professional sectors alike, some women — including those who are educated and Christian — voluntarily enter polygamous arrangements. For some, these relationships allow greater personal freedom, balancing career aspirations with traditional expectations of femininity and motherhood.
Legal Frameworks and Social Tensions
The report highlights that approximately 30 African nations legally recognize polygamy across civil, customary, or religious systems. Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Tanzania, and South Africa have codified forms of plural marriage in their laws.
However, the report cautions that legal recognition does not reflect universal approval. Women’s movements across the continent are increasingly vocal in contesting such legislation, calling it “unfair and disrespectful of gender equality.” The resulting tension — between traditional practice, legal norms, and evolving notions of justice — creates a complex pastoral landscape for Church leaders.
Upholding Women’s Dignity
Central to the commission’s conclusions is a clear affirmation that pastoral responses must enhance women’s dignity. While acknowledging that women may choose polygamous unions for social or economic reasons, the report insists such arrangements fall short of God’s vision for human relationships. From a biblical standpoint, the commission writes, polygamy “does not promote the development of women as intended by God.”
The Church, therefore, is called to foster pastoral strategies that help communities critically evaluate cultural norms and gender roles through the lens of Christian anthropology.
Economics and Vulnerability
The report ties polygamy to economic vulnerability, particularly among widows who rely on practices such as levirate marriage — the tradition in which a widow marries her late husband’s relative for support. While acknowledging this practice’s protective intent, the commission warns of possible exploitation, calling for targeted pastoral care to ensure widows’ material and moral security.
Such support, the commission argues, reduces the likelihood of women entering polygamous relationships out of desperation.
“Veiled” Forms of Polygamy
Beyond formal marriages, the report identifies “veiled polygamy” — situations where individuals maintain multiple sexual or familial relationships outside official unions. This often results in fragmented families and children born outside wedlock, creating social stigma disproportionately borne by women and single mothers.
The absence of fathers, the report adds, compromises children’s well-being and stability. SECAM urges stronger pastoral formation to accompany such families with compassion, maturity, and social responsibility.
Formation for Christian Marriage
Prevention, the report insists, must accompany pastoral care. Many baptized Christians enter polygamy under cultural pressures surrounding fertility. The commission calls for a renewed focus on marriage preparation, helping couples understand marriage as a covenant of love rather than a guarantee of progeny.
“The inability to bear children should not undermine the sanctity of a sacramental union,” the report argues, emphasizing that marital fidelity, not biological fertility, lies at the heart of Christian marriage.
Inculturation and the African Church’s Path
Ultimately, SECAM situates the question of polygamy within the broader process of inculturation — expressing the Christian faith authentically within Africa’s diverse societies. Pastoral approaches, the commission suggests, must evolve from mere moral condemnation toward genuine dialogue that holds fidelity to the Gospel together with a respect for local cultures.
The bishops call for ongoing collaboration among theologians, pastoral workers, and local communities to discern pastoral models that speak to contemporary African realities. “The goal,” the report concludes, “is to offer to all the possibility of an encounter with Christ and his Gospel.”
In that spirit, SECAM’s document reframes polygamy not as an isolated moral dilemma but as a mirror reflecting Africa’s larger social transformations — an invitation for the Church to accompany its people with wisdom, justice, and pastoral imagination.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Africa
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