via Pope on Zim: Many have reached limit 02/06/2014 NewZimbabwe
POPE Francis said Monday he was aware that many Zimbabweans “have reached their human limit, and do not know where to turn” but urged Catholic Bishops in the country to help promote peace and unity.
Zimbabwe’s crisis is both “spiritual and moral” said the Pontiff as he praised Catholic Bishops for giving “dramatic voice to all the struggling people of (the) country, especially to the downtrodden and the refugees” as the economic and political crisis peaked in 2007.
The Pope was addressing Bishops from Zimbabwe who are in Rome for their ad limina, which is a pilgrimage the prelates are required to make every five years to the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul and to present to the Pope a report on the status of their diocese.
“The Church in your country has stood fast with her people both before and after independence, now also in the years of overwhelming suffering as millions have left the country in frustration and desperation, as many lives have been lost, so many tears shed,” he said.
He made particular reference to the hard hitting 2007 Pastoral Letter in which local Bishops lamented the suffering in the country which they blamed on, among other things “bad governance and corruption”.
“A tiny minority of the people have become very rich overnight, while the majority are languishing in poverty, creating a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Our Country is in deep crisis,” the Bishops wrote at the time.
The letter was penned at the height Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis which critics blamed on widespread corruption and incompetent leadership among other problems.
President Robert Mugabe, a devout Catholic who never misses the major events at the Vatican, accepts no responsibility, insisting the country’s problems are due to sanctions imposed by the West.
He said: “I think particularly of your 2007 Pastoral Letter God Hears the Cry of the Oppressed: “’the suffering people of Zimbabwe are groaning in agony: ‘Watchman, how much longer the night?’”
“There you showed how the crisis is both spiritual and moral, stretching from colonial times through the present moment, and how the ‘structures of sin’ embedded in the social order are ultimately rooted in personal sin, requiring of all a profound personal conversion and a renewed moral sense enlightened by the Gospel.”
New elections held last year gave Mugabe, who turned 90 this year, another five year term in office after a landslide victory against the opposition who however dismissed the vote as monumental sham.
While campaigning for the vote, Mugabe and his Zanu PF party promised to create two million new jobs, but nearly a year after the elections, precious few of those jobs have materialised with companies actually closing down across the country.
The government is struggling to pay its bloated civil service and the Reserve Bank last week warned that the economy was headed towards the mayhem of 2008 unless drastic measures were taken to reverse the slide.
Pope Francis said he was aware that “many people have reached their human limit” but urged the bishops to help promote unity and peace.
“While Zimbabweans’ faithfulness is already a balm on some of these national wounds, I know that many people have reached their human limit, and do not know where to turn.
“In the midst of all this, I ask you to encourage the faithful never to lose sight of the ways in which God is hearing their supplications and answering their prayers, for, as you have written, he cannot fail to hear the cry of the poor.
“Christians find themselves on all sides of the conflict in Zimbabwe, and so I urge you to guide everyone with great tenderness towards unity and healing: this is a people both black and white, some richer but most exceedingly poorer, of numerous tribes; the followers of Christ belong to all political parties, some in positions of authority, many not.”
COMMENTS
Dear Pope……INDEED WE Zimbabweans HAVE REACHED OUR HUMAN LIMIT !! There will be Blood in the streets…..its just a matter of Days !!
The RCC did a lot of good stuff for the people before independence but hardily anything after. And yet, ironically, the people have become worse off economically and politically than they were before independence. The 2007 Pastoral letter is the only thing the church’s leaders ever produced.
“Watchman, how much longer the night?” the Pope asked. Was he asking Mugabe and his thugs that or was he asking his own representative in Zimbabwe who have grown closer to the regime than the suffering masses they are supposed to represent!
The Pope shook hands with Mugabe – why didn’t he speak to the man himself instead of sending a message with the bishops.
Perhaps the minor Apostolic scuffle was a sign? Those who were arrested are probably receiving a thorough beating right now. One can but feel pity. Still, small clusters can send a signal, no need for massive all out confrontation.
Remember “land invasion” started with vekwaSvosve. Little did we know what was in store….
Why did the pope fail to tell this to Mugabe last week when he had dinner with someone who shed blood, who presided over moral and spiritual chaos? Why did you not narate the Saul vs David few verses, emphasizing that Leader must come from God. You are not a wise Pope
Popes have a history of being soft on tyrants and dictators.
Hey this is the stubborn truth, we have reached our Human Limit, God please answer us now we are getting lost by the day, let your Glory be seen today and this is the day we will sing Glory to the almighty God.
There is the one mightier than the Pope – the one who created mankind who is going to deal with the theiving scumbags….
Mugabe is a mere mortal and all the political and economic problems he has created are all man-made and therefore within the powers of other mortals to put right. Zimbabweans should not be seeking divine intervention as an excuse for doing nothing. Most Zimbabweans accepted that idiot Makandiwa’s “prophecy” that the Zimbabwean economic will recover and reward the idiot by buying his “blessed” apples for $5 each. There is nothing wrong with being religious but not to the point of switching off and be exploited by good-for-nothing idiots with their pie in the sky solutions!
The one who works in mysterious ways
Why does the Pope welcome Mugabe with open arms. Great opportunity for Grace to do some shopping in Italy. What a pure disgrace on how all this has been handled.
am sure the Pope is aware of Bob and Grace’s thieving and murderous ways