HIS EMINENCE POPE FRANCIS I & THE DEVIL

 

I would like to extend my congratulations to His Eminence Pope Francis 1, for his inauguration and I hope and trust that he will be a good leader for his religion. I was disturbed to see the Pope hand-in-hand with a well-known dictator Robert Mugabe, a man who has caused untold sufferings to his own people. The man has inflicted pain and suffering to the people of Zimbabwe with great relish. The pope is quite aware, that the Mugabe is under a travel ban, and it is with good reason. It could be that His Eminence is still new to matters of the state, nonetheless, stupidity and immorality are the properties of such man as Robert Mugabe, we would have expected the Pope to be a man of good morals and where possible of awesome intellect. It would be fair to conclude that His Eminence has failed so far to exemplify good morality.

Mugabe attended the Pope's inaugural mass on Tuesday despite a ban on him travelling to most European countries to protest his human rights record and alleged vote rigging in violent elections. Vatican officials said no formal invitations were sent out and representatives of all world governments were welcome to come to the Pope's installation. Zimbabwe Herald newspaper, a Mugabe mouthpiece, reported Wednesday. The newspaper said Mugabe, 89, met with Pope Francis, and congratulated him on his election by the conclave of Roman Catholic cardinals.

Piety requires that we honour the truth above anything else. Hearing Mugabe talk about Christian values is a mockery to the Catholic Church and every law-abiding citizen of Zimbabwe. For Mugabe to preach about love is hypocrisy and political grand standing, he lacks locus standi, to evoke such a notion, as the evidence will not work in his favour.

The presidential and legislative elections scheduled for June 2013. Mugabe told reporters to work harder to present truthful reports. "Sometimes one gets offended when what one says has not been understood. We don't usually rush to correct people," said Mugabe, whose ZANU-PF party has enforced sweeping media laws since 2003. Scores of independent journalists in Zimbabwe have since been assaulted, tortured, and arrested.

Mugabe said Christian commandments to love one another did not mean promiscuity. He told reporters covering the Pope's inauguration: "If you have not been going to church, you start going. If you have been drunkards, stop drinking. If you have been guilty of fornication, stop it," The Herald said. Speaking to journalists in Italy, Mugabe urged them to go to church, lead a morally-guided life, avoid heavy drinking and write well without putting in "a twist like all journalists do for propaganda," . I can understand, that Mr Mugabe thinks that everything is about propaganda, since it is his rhetorical tool of choice. This is real; these pictures are of Zimbabweans who were brutalized by Robert Mugabe. They say pictures speak a thousand words! The Pope knew of Mugabe`s crimes against Humanity, since CCJP (Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace) made a comprehensive report of these atrocities.

I would not therefore want to dwell too much on the negatives, Gukurahundi, the DRC intervention, Murambatsvina, land expropriation, three million Zimbabweans in exile, one billion percent inflation, collapse in education, health, road and electricity infrastructure, extensive poverty, election violence and death, biased judiciary, media paranoia, is what Mugabe can be remembered for.

It does not occur to Mugabe that which appears like peace in the deprived region of Matabeleland is not peace but silence. Mugabe is blind to the truth that Gukurahundi victims know that even if the guns stopped in 1987, the genocide continues in other means. The occupation of Matabele ancestral lands by settlers from Mashonaland; the de-industrialization of the region; the denial of water from the Zambezi; the killing of the language and culture of the people, are ways of punishing people of this region for not voting for him.  Your Eminence, ever since you shock Mugabe`s hand, you also shared his fate and responsibility for the lives he extinguished prematurely. Your Eminence, these pictures are just a fraction of the people victimized by your favourite son Robert Mugabe. It will be in its place for His Eminence to make a public statement denouncing your association with this man. Your Eminence, please make no mistake, the world is waiting for moral guidance in this regard! May the Lord have mercy on his soul, for we shall not!!       

Stanley Mauro Jensen