Advertise in this spot on CatholicCulture.org. View all ads.

Catholic World News News Feature

Zimbabwe's Archbishop Ncube resigns under fire September 11, 2007

An outspoken African archbishop has resigned in the face of highly publicized adultery charges.

Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, the Vatican announced on September 11. The brief public announcement indicated that the resignation was in line with canon 401-2 of the Code of Canon Law, which provides for the early resignation of a bishop in case of illness or "some other grave reason."

Archbishop Ncube, a leading critic of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, has been charged with carrying on an adulterous affair with his secretary. When the woman's estranged husband filed suit against the archbishop in July, the case received extraordinary publicity in the state-controlled media.

Archbishop Ncube said that he was stepping down in order to defuse the public criticism-- which, he charged, was a drive by the government to discredit the country's Catholic leadership. Church leaders in Zimbabwe have been highly critical of the Mugabe government, citing its authoritarian rule, corruption, and economic mismanagement.

The archbishop said that he had offered his resignation "within days of what was obviously a state-driven, vicious attack-- not just on myself, but by proxy on the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe." He said: "In order to spare my fellow bishops and the body of the Church any further attacks, I decided this [resignation] was the best course of action."

Archbishop Ncube continues to deny the adultery charges. The bishops' conference of Zimbabwe recently came to his defense, saying that the sensationalized media coverage of those charges has been "outrageous and utterly deplorable."

The archbishop said that he wanted to face the legal charges against him "as Pius Ncube, an individual, not that the holy Catholic Church of God should seem to be on trial because I am its head." He thanked the Catholics who have supported him in recent weeks, and said that he would do his best to serve the Church in different ways.

“Recent events have brought me closer to God and have given me a clearer sense of mission," said Archbishop Ncube. "I have not been silenced by the crude machinations of a wicked regime." He promised to continue the "fight for human rights" in Zimbabwe.

The archbishop was charged with adultery shortly after an interview in which he said that it would be morally justifiable to overthrow the Mugabe regime. He had also said that he was willing to risk his life to bring down the government, which is presiding over an economic disaster in which the vast majority of adults lack gainful employment.