State-sponsored prayer day splits church leaders in Zimbabwe

Published: 2006-06-27

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- A state-sponsored national day of prayer in Zimbabwe has split the country's churches. Some leaders, including Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, refused to attend while others, such as the Archdiocese of Harare's vicar general, took part in a gathering in a Harare stadium addressed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. "I was against it because it puts the churches into Mugabe's pocket when he hasn't made any steps to address the issues of justice," Archbishop Ncube told Catholic News Service in a June 26 telephone interview from Bulawayo. The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, the group of church organizations that led calls for a boycott of the June 25 prayer events, said there can be no partnership with the government "until and unless there is genuine repentance and change on its part."

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .