Zimbabwean bishops urge repentance, restraint amid country's crisis

Published: 2007-03-29

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNS) -- Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops have urged those responsible for the country's crisis to "repent and listen to the cry of their citizens" and called for restraint among protesters. "Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another," said the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference. Zimbabwe's crisis is one of governance, leadership, spirituality and morality, they said in a March 27 pastoral letter. To avoid "further bloodshed and avert a mass uprising," a new constitution is needed to guide democracy "chosen in free and fair elections that will offer a chance for economic recovery under genuinely new policies," the bishops said. The country has "Christians on all sides of the conflict, and there are many Christians sitting on the fence," said the bishops. Officials in President Robert Mugabe's ruling party and opposition officials serve on parish councils and "profess their loyalty to the same church," said the bishops. However, just "a few steps" outside church, "Christian state agents, policemen and soldiers assault and beat peaceful, unarmed demonstrators and torture detainees," the bishops said.

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