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Vatican told of adultery charge
22/07/2007 18:21 - (SA)
Harare - The state-run Sunday Mail reports that a Zimbabwean man who sued the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo Pius Ncube for adultery, has notified the Vatican of the case against an arch-foe of President Robert Mugabe.
"Our client is a devout Catholic and indeed his entire family is within your church," the lawyers of Onesimus Sibanda said in a letter to the Vatican representative in Harare, Archbishop Adams.
"In fact, his wife, Rosemary Sibanda, is the secretary of St Annes's Association at St Pius in Njube.
Persistent thorn
"It was his desire that we notify you and His Grace, Pope Benedict the XVI, of his intended action against Archbishop Pius Ncube before it becomes public record," the letter was quoted as saying.
There was no independent confirmation of The Mail report.
Ncube, one of Mugabe's most outspoken critics and a persistent thorn in the side of the government, was sued on Monday for adultery, an accusation he has firmly denied.
Mugabe rebuked Ncube for breaking his vow of celibacy on Wednesday after state media ran pictures of what it claimed were shots of the archbishop naked in bed with a married woman.
The grainy pictures were plastered over several pages under the headline "The Pius Act". The paper said the photos were taken by a private investigator hired by the woman's husband who has threatened to sue for adultery.
Cleric would fight the adultery suit
Mugabe warned In May that church leaders who had become increasingly critical of him were treading a "dangerous path."
The president castigated some bishops about three weeks ago
for "sleeping around" when they had sworn to celibacy.
"One cannot tell between a bishop and a layman anymore," Mugabe told a meeting of the ruling party elite in Harare.
Ncube's lawyer has said the cleric would fight the adultery suit.
Ncube, like Mugabe, was educated by Jesuits and once said when this was pointed out to him: "You can't blame the Jesuits for what he has become."
- SAPA
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