Vatican now complicit in Mugabe's crimes
Robert Mugabe and wife Grace at a Mass for John Paul II on Sunday
IT IS both scandalous and incomprehensible that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be a guest at the Vatican for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II (Irish Independent, April 30).
According to the Vatican, his presence was a "function of the diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Zimbabwe".
However, Mugabe's ready acceptance by the Vatican for this beatification not only undermines the strong moral position taken by the Zimbabwean Bishops' Conference, but also by the combined Catholic bishops of Southern Africa who have accused Mugabe of perpetuating genocide. They have called on all the regional leaders of Southern Africa to cut ties with Mugabe, warning that a failure to do so would make them guilty of "passive genocide".
Surely the Vatican as a sovereign state is giving credibility and recognition to Robert Mugabe and, consequently, in the words of its own bishops, must accept complicity in creating the conditions that have resulted in starvation, displacement, disease and death for ordinary Zimbabwean people -- which is nothing short of passive genocide.
Brendan Butler
Malahide, Co Dublin
Irish Independent
