President hails Catholics on gays President Mugabe
President Mugabe

President Mugabe

Mabasa Sasa recently in Vatican
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe yesterday said he “applauded” the decision of a Synod of Bishops that overwhelmingly maintained the Roman Catholic’s opposition to homosexuality, despite pressure to recognise so-called gay rights.
The gay debate is likely to be discussed again at another meeting of Catholic bishops next year.

President Mugabe, a Catholic, spoke yesterday as he returned from Vatican City where he and the First Lady witnessed the beatification of Blessed Paul VI.

The double mass, led by Pope Francis before a congregation of some 70,000 people, marked the end of the Third Extraordinary Synod of Bishops, which brought together Roman Catholic Church leaders from across the globe.

The bishops also agreed to continue with the church’s non-acceptance of divorced and remarried people. “It was a meeting of Catholic bishops convened by Pope Francis. As an Argentinean national and because of his Latin American influence, he felt that there was need for the church to examine the issue of gay rights,” the President said at the Harare International Airport.

“It was a subject to be discussed by the Synod and the bishops overwhelmingly rejected it (gay rights). We applaud their stance.”

Blessed Paul VI is now one step away from Catholic sainthood. To be canonised as a saint, the church verifies two miracles and considers an individual’s lifelong commitment to cardinal and biblical virtues.

Beatification is the third stage in the four-step process. In 1993, Paul VI was honoured as Servant of God, with the next stage coming in 2012 when the church elevated him to Venerable. In May this year, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Paul VI (healing of an unborn child), setting the stage for his elevation yesterday to “Blessed” – one step away from sainthood.

The church would need to confirm another miracle, though previously some of these requirements have been waived.

Paul VI was born in 1896 and was one of a few people elected pope without having been a cardinal. He turned down that appointment though he did serve as Archbishop of Milan, Italy’s biggest diocese.

Blessed Paul VI was the first pope to visit Africa, and also sought to improve Catholic ties with the Eastern Orthodox Church and Protestant denominations.

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