Catholic Church issues strong pastoral letter on crisis

By Violet Gonda
10 April 2008

Zimbabwe’s Roman Catholic bishops have written what has been described as the most critical message on the crisis in Zimbabwe, in a pastoral letter for Easter. The Catholic bishops concluded in their statement that the crisis in Zimbabwe is, in essence, a crisis of governance and a crisis of leadership apart from being a spiritual and moral crisis.

The Catholic bishops' letter suggests that young Zimbabweans see their leaders "habitually engaging in acts and words which are hateful, disrespectful, racist, corrupt, lawless, unjust, greedy, dishonest and violent..."

Political analyst Dr John Makumbe said this a very good document that for the first time takes into account the extent of state sponsored brutality on innocent civilians. He said in essence the Pastoral letter has gone outside of the National Vision document, and taken a tougher stance.

"The Zimbabwe We Want: Towards a National Vision” was a document that was launched last year by a group of clergymen representing the three main Christian groups in Zimbabwe, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.

But Dr Makumbe said: “ The Catholic Church has gone way ahead of the National Vision document and the National Vision group in identifying the perpetrators of the violence and demanding that the brutality, the violence, the harassment of opposition political parties and civic groups should stop and that dialogue be instituted.”

Observers say the language of the letter might have been expected from Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, but is extraordinarily harsh for a formal joint statement from the country's Catholic Bishops' Conference.

The letter, titled "God Hears the Cries of the Oppressed," was pinned to church bulletin boards around the country. The Bishops said: "Many people in Zimbabwe are angry, and their anger is now erupting into open revolt in one township after another.”