Former archbishop Pius Ncube, a leading critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who resigned after an adultery scandal, was forced out by the Vatican, a news report in Zimbabwe said on Wednesday.
In an article headlined ”Pius forced to resign”, the government mouthpiece Herald newspaper said Ncube (60), whose resignation as archbishop of Zimbabwe’s second largest city of Bulawayo, was announced on Tuesday, had been pressured to leave by the Vatican.
”[Ncube] has been forced to resign by the Vatican,” reported the paper, which in July published some allegedly compromising pictures, claiming to depict the Bulawayo archbishop having sex with the wife of another man.
It said the pictures were taken secretly with cameras set up by a private investigator hired by the woman’s husband to secure evidence of the alleged adultery. He is now suing Ncube for Z$20-billion ($160 000).
”Roman Catholic priests are sworn to a vow of celibacy,” the Herald pointed out on Wednesday.
It said his ”forced resignation is a slap in the face of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which last month made an impromptu attempt to defend him in his alleged adulterous affair with Mrs [Rosemary] Sibanda”.
Last month, nine Catholic bishops expressed support for Ncube, hailing him as a courageous ”exposer of evils” by Mugabe’s government.
Ncube, who has been head of the Bulawayo Diocese since 1998, 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 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. — Sapa-AFP