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In his first public response to the highly critical pastoral letter from Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops, President Robert Mugabe calls the letter "nonsense" and warns that his government could start treating the bishops as political enemies. The state-controlled Herald newspaper reports on an interview with Mugabe.
"If I had gone to church and the priest had read that so-called pastoral letter, I would have stood up and said nonsense. It is not something spiritual, it is not religious, the bishops have decided to turn political. And once they turn political, we regard them as no longer being spiritual and our relations with them would be conducted as if we are dealing with political entities, and this is quite a dangerous path they have chosen for themselves," said Cde Mugabe.
Mugabe's henchmen did more than stand up and say nonsense to a priest who discussed the letter with his congregation. They arrested him and held him overnight.
The arrested priest and a member of his congregation were released without charge after spending 24 hours in jail last month, said Father Oskar Wermter of the Catholic social communications secretariat in Harare.
It was the first reported arrest of a priest on political grounds in recent years. The priest had evidently given prominence to the letter in services in northern Harare.
Mugabe singles out for particular criticism Archbishop Pius Ncube, saying he has "long been a lost bishop".
The Anglican bishops' pastoral letter that was generally perceived as pro-Mugabe was apparently not discussed during the interview.
The Catholic-educated Mugabe attends Catholic services held at his residence.
Previous related posts:
[...] The ZANU-PF letter arrives a few weeks after Mugabe dismissed the pastoral letter as “nonsense” and warned Catholic leaders to stop issuing political statements. [...]
[...] Militias target Zimbabwean Catholics By StatGuy Robert Mugabe’s threat to treat Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops as political enemies is being put into effect by pro-government militias. Armed groups made up of youth and independence war veterans are targeting Catholics in rural areas where support for the ruling ZANU-PF party tends to be strongest. Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, a long time critic of Mugabe's government, told IRIN the attacks by the militias were part of a strategy of intimidation ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections. [...]
[...] Mugabe responded to the Zimbabwe Catholic bishops’ pastoral letter denouncing his regime with derision and threats. Since then, Catholics in rural Zimbabwe have been assaulted and terrorised. [...]
[...] Mugabe threatens Catholic bishops [...]
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