BishopAccountability.org
	I'Ll Pray for 'Fallen Archbishop' - Mugabe IOL July 18, 2007 http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=84&art_id=nw20070718143107504C443177 Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday rebuked Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube for breaking his vow of celibacy after state media ran pictures of his arch critic in bed with a married woman. "Since you are my archbishop, Pius, and you swore to celibacy, keep your vows," Mugabe said at the burial of a national hero and former army chief in the capital. "Snatching other people's wives is not fair play." Mugabe described himself an ordinary Catholic who knew God and urged Church leaders to be exemplary. Zimbabwe's state-run media published pictures Tuesday that it said showed Ncube, one of Mugabe's arch critics, naked in his bedroom with a woman whose husband is now suing the archbishop for adultery. "I was born a Catholic but I did not swear to celibacy," Mugabe said. "That was my own area of weakness and I chose the path which led me to where I am. I am Catholic and I can say grace like Pius but I chose to marry and Pius chose not to." Mugabe said he would make a request when he goes to church, for prayers for Ncube "so that he can repent and return to morality." Ncube's lawyer has said the cleric would fight the adultery suit. Mugabe sparked controversy among Catholics in the early 1990s after revelations he had secretly married his former aide and fathered two children while still married to his late wife. Ncube has been a constant thorn in the side of the Mugabe regime, calling for the people of Zimbabwe to rise up against his rule and declaring his readiness to "go in front of blazing guns". Mugabe warned in May that Church leaders who had become increasingly critical of him were treading a "dangerous path". Two weeks ago the octogenarian ruler castigated some bishops for "sleeping around" when they had sworn to celibacy. "Some of them claim they swore to celibacy yet they sleep around with countless women," he said. - Sapa-AFP
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.