Robert Mugabe
Recent calls from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Archbishop of York have lead some to think it is time to have the Catholic Church excommunicate Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe.
The humanitarian crisis Mugabe, a practicing Roman Catholic, has put the people of Zimbabwe in has been a cause for concern for Catholic activists in Africa for some time now. The Catholic Church, which played a role in putting Mugabe into power, “can do the right thing (finally) and help get rid of him,” writes Jan Lamprecht.
The Church excommunicates the unrepentant for their immoral behavior. Anti-Mugabe proponents argue his killing and persecution of political activists, as well as the destruction of the Zimbabwean infrastructure which has led to out-of-control inflation and a deadly cholera outbreak are grounds for the action.
According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, excommunication is used as a “a medicinal, spiritual penalty” to force the excommunicated to repent and change their ways. Some anti-Mugabe proponents argue excommunication could be used to bring further moral weight to get Mugabe to step down from power in Zimbabwe.
Related posts:
The Catholic church never excommunicated Hitler!
Exactly what did the Catholic Church have to do with installing Mugabe as the dictator? That is rather a brasen statement on such a sacred authority.
Please read the article, "AFRICAN INCULTURATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ZIMBABWE, 1958-1977." at questia.com
FTA:
"Taking advantage of the greater cultural freedom allowed during and after Vatican II, African Catholics in Zimbabwe sought to find a spiritual home within the Church by incorporating the hidden transcript of African values and symbols to make it their own. Further, they drew on fundamental Christian social principles to support the growing African nationalist movement that culminated in Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. "
BTW this article is linked in TRP article.
Hope this helps.
- Admin.
That Hitler was not excommunicated is not surprising for two reasons. First, while he was raised as a Catholic, he never practiced the Catholic faith as an adult, in fact openly attacking it. Excommunication is only used against those who claim the Catholic faith. Likewise, Hitler already attacked the Church in Germany and the Low Countries, and it was feared that any direct action by Church officials would lead to open persecutions of the faithful even in Italy, which when there was no hope of such acts doing any good seemed ill-advised.
In the case of Mugabe, there is no fear that he will do anything worse to Catholics (or anyone else) were he excommunicated than he does now, and he does claim the catholic faith. This would make it possible. Whether or not it is advised, is another matter. However, in such cases it is almost certain that a trial would have to be convened, and that would normally be under the initial competence of the Archbishop of Harare.
The war in the Middle East, in Gaza to be precise has been spared by many critics whom we have seen raise their heads in the Zimbabwean situation.The silence from the men of cloth: Archbishops John Sentamu and Desmond Tutu is almost deafening. We have also not heard any comments from many of those people who called for armed invasion in Zimbabwe; including Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
It is ironic that the Archbishop of York, Sentamu in February 2003, while thousands marched in London, led church-wide protests in Birmingham against the invasion of Iraq. “There is no moral basis for a military invasion of Iraq,” he said at the time.In his eyes Saddam Hussein was a Santa type figure for Iraqis, but he fails to call for such protests against the wanton killing of innocent civilians in Gaza.Even the UN has spoken against the shelling of its school where 400 innocent civilians perished overnight.
In 2007, Archbishop Sentamu led Easter Prayers for the safety of BBC’s Alan Johnston from captivity in Gaza.
When Johnston was released alive, Sentamu pounded an African drum to celebrate Johnson’s release. “I just wanted to say ‘Alleluia!’… This is the best news we’ve had for a long time,” he declared then. Note he said: “We have heard”. Who is “we”?Last year, Archbishop Desmond Tutu undeterred, made a forced rare crossing into Gaza from Egypt where he had been sent by the UN council to investigate the Israeli shelling of a house in Gaza, despite Israel’s attempts at gagging him.He emerged from his interviews in what he described as a state of shock and called for an end to the “abominable” Israeli blockade of Gaza. He later reported to the UN there was a “possibility” that the shelling was a war crime.
After calling for a military invasion of Zimbabwe, just a few weeks ago, it would be out of place for the Archbishop to repeat such a feat; otherwise it would be hypocritical.Surely Archbishop Tutu finds it difficult to now call the current illegal Gaza offensive a war crime, because of his hardline position on Zimbabwe. He has lost his independence to make informed commentaries.
The statement from the Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Phandu Skelemani, in response to Israel’s disproportionate attack on Gaza, left a lot to be desired. He said: “The Botswana position is that we don’t need war.”“War has never brought any solution to problems. The downside about war is that it affects innocent elderly people, women and children, not those who initiate it”.
This was an immediate turnaround from a country that only a few weeks ago was on BBC’s Hard Talk programme calling for military action against, and economic isolation of Zimbabwe.
The minister, even interrupted his holiday in his native North East District, to emphasize Botswana’s view that both parties “must learn to talk” to resolve their differences – something he desires for the Middle East, not his own African continent.“If people have mouths and brains but decide to fight, then there is real poverty in their thinking,” he said in an ironical twist on his own suggestion of war against Zimbabwe. “Neither Israel nor Gaza will disappear if both parties engage in dialogue, as opposed to war,” he said.Kenyan Prime Minister, Odinga was caught napping after making noises about the need for war in Zimbabwe.Hundreds of protestors gathered outside Nairobi’s Jamia Mosque after Friday prayers, calling Prime Minister Odinga to cut ties with Israel as a sign of Kenya’s commitment to human rights.“Over 400 Gazans were killed. Where is our … prime minister? Why are they not speaking about what is happening to Palestinians in Gaza?” said Sheikh Al Amin Kimathi, the chairman of Kenya’s Muslim Human Rights Commission.
“Kenya must denounce its relationship with Israel. We call upon the government of Kenya to close Israel’s embassy in Nairobi,” he added.Odinga failed to issue a single statement against Israeli attacks. This would have put in direct confrontation with President George W. Bush who blames Hamas for the conflict in the Gaza area.Odinga’s lack of response was, therefore, not surprising.Maybe it is important to remind our leaders that the societies they try to please will never fully accept them and they should start to get realistic about how to solve African problems.
Archbishop Sentamu should know better. Many times he has encountered Britain’s uglier, racist face.
The very first time he took a funeral, the son of the deceased asked: “What has my father done to be buried by a black monkey?” In the 1980s, the National Front tried to burn down his house.
When he lived in London, he was stopped by the Metropolitan Police six times in eight years under their stop-and-search policy. Yet, he still tries hard to use arguments against his own people to advance Western interests