The idiot has resigned!
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Anti-Mugabe archbishop quits Harare, Zimbabwe
11 September 2007 04:30 DisplayDCAd('220x240','1','');
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Archbishop Pius Ncube, a leading critic of President Robert Mugabe, resigned
on Tuesday after an adultery scandal but said he would not be silenced by the
"wicked regime".
Ncube stood down as archbishop of Bulawayo after state media in July published
photographs of him in bed with a married woman. The Vatican said Pope Benedict
XVI had accepted the resignation.
Ncube said his move was intended to save the church from further attacks and
enable him to challenge the adultery charge in court in his private capacity.
"I remain a Catholic bishop in Zimbabwe and will continue to speak out on the
issues that, sadly, become more acute by the day," Ncube (60) said in a
statement released in Bulawayo, the country's second city.
"I have not been silenced by the crude machinations of a wicked regime. I am
committed to promoting the social teachings of the church and working among the
poorest and most needy in Zimbabwe," he added.
He said he will look in coming weeks at "various options" open to him within
the church and civic groups.
Ncube said Zimbabwe's people are suffering more each day. "I will use my
experiences working among the people to lobby for greater humanitarian support,
in particular for food and medical supplies at this time of extreme national
crisis."
He said he is stepping down "in order to spare my fellow bishops and the board
of the church any further attacks".
Ncube has been a constant thorn in the side of Mugabe's government, calling for
people to rise up against his rule and this year declaring his readiness to "go
in front of blazing guns".
He has called for international pressure on Mugabe to end the crisis in
Zimbabwe where there is rampant inflation and growing food and energy shortages.
But Ncube, who has been archbishop since 1998, has kept a low profile since
pictures in the Herald newspaper and film footage broadcast by state media in
July appeared to show him naked in bed with a married woman.
The state-owned newspaper said the pictures showed the archbishop having sex
with the wife of one of his parishioners. It said the pictures were taken
secretly with cameras set up by a private investigator hired by the husband to
secure evidence of the alleged adultery. The husband is suing Ncube for
Z$20-billion ($160 000).
Mugabe has said he will pray for the archbishop, but has also rebuked him for
"snatching other people's women" and breaking his vow of celibacy.
Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops last month expressed support for Ncube, hailing him
as a courageous "exposer of evils" by Mugabe's government. They said the
"outrageous and utterly deplorable" attacks by state media on Ncube were "an
assault on the Catholic Church".
Ncube said in his statement, however: "It is my feeling that I should face this
case in court as Pius Ncube, an individual, not that the Holy Catholic Church
of God should seem to be on trial because I am its head."
Pope Benedict XVI "accepted the renunciation of pastoral leadership in the
archdiocese of Bulawayo", a statement released by the Vatican announced.
Zimbabwe state television quoted Bulawayo priest Father Frederick Chiromba as
saying the resignation was tendered "in accordance with the code of canon law,
which encourages a bishop to offer his resignation when because of health or
some other serious reasons, he has become less able to fulfil his office". --
Sapa-AFP
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