A Zimbabwean man who has sued the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo Diocese Pius Ncube for adultery, has notified the local papal representative of the case, state media reported on Sunday.Ncube, one of President Robert Mugabe's arch-critics, sued last Monday for adultery, has denied any wrong doing.
"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. It was therefore 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."
Last Wednesday, Mugabe rebuked Ncube for breaking his vow of celibacy after state media ran pictures of the archbishop naked in bed with a married woman.
Ncube has been a constant thorn in the side of the Mugabe regime, calling for the people of Zimbabwe to rise up against his rule and declaring his readiness to "go in front of blazing guns".
In May, Mugabe warned that church leaders who had become increasingly critical of him were treading a "dangerous path."
About three weeks ago, the octogenarian ruler castigated some bishops for "sleeping around" when they had sworn to celibacy.
"Some of them claim they swore to celibacy yet they sleep around with countless women," he said."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.
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