Has Pope Francis stepped in it?

After putting out a document calling for the blessings of people in "irregular" marital situations and gay marriage, Africa's Catholic bishops aren't taking this well.

One after another, they are putting out statements of their own condemning the idea:

Here's a map:

Yes, there is pushback from Western liberals:

And while there is confusion about what Pope Francis meant by these blessings, with the Vatican saying it's not the same as gay marriage, while his critics say it looks an awful lot like it, given this kind of "historic first" coverage in the news, it's pretty obvious the Africans want nothing to do with this, whether by appearance or claims to continuity.

That's important because Africa is the big growth area of the Church, the continent where the largest numbes of priests are being called to vocations and where converts are multiplying daily -- and in a place where the population is young and growing, not old and shrinking. These people are the future of the Church and it's very likely that in coming years, they're going to be running it.

Here is some insight on the numbers and what's happening:

That's a pretty strong reaction, and other regions of the Church -- in the eastern rites, East Asia, and in the U.S., are also at least partially following suit.

Now there seems to be some walking back of the document coming from the Vatican:

That sounds like the pope recognizes that he's alienated a critically important part of the Church. 

That doesn't sound like a very well-managed or thought-out move.

Image: Twitter screen shot