News / National
Mugabe in Rome for Popes' canonisation
26 Apr 2014 at 19:09hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe is in Rome, Italy where he will attend the canonisation of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II on Sunday.
Mugabe is accompanied by the First Lady, Grace Mugabe, their youngest son, Chatunga and senior government officials.
They were met on arrival at Fio Michino Airport in Rome by Zimbabwean ambassador to Italy, David Hamadziripi, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Father Owen Keenan and Zimbabwe Embassy staff.
President Mugabe is among thousands who will withness the unique event in which the two late popes will be declared saints, for their various contributions in the development and propagation of Catholicism, and for living rightious lives.
The President is a staunch Catholic, who was born and bred in the faith by his devout Catholic mother, Ambuya Bona, a former Catechism teacher at Chishawasha Mission.
When his family moved from Chishawasha to Kutama in Zvimba, President Mugabe was taught and trained as a teacher by the jesuits, a Catholic order renowned for its strict discipline.
Over the years, Mugabe has adhered to the Catholic faith and still carries a rosary which he was given by his mother when he was going to Mozambique for the struggle in 1975.
President Mugabe last visited the Vatican in 2013 for the inauguration mass of Pope Francis.
In 2011, President Mugabe attended the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, whose funeral he had also attended in 2005 when he shook hands with Prince Charles.
Mugabe is accompanied by the First Lady, Grace Mugabe, their youngest son, Chatunga and senior government officials.
They were met on arrival at Fio Michino Airport in Rome by Zimbabwean ambassador to Italy, David Hamadziripi, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Father Owen Keenan and Zimbabwe Embassy staff.
President Mugabe is among thousands who will withness the unique event in which the two late popes will be declared saints, for their various contributions in the development and propagation of Catholicism, and for living rightious lives.
The President is a staunch Catholic, who was born and bred in the faith by his devout Catholic mother, Ambuya Bona, a former Catechism teacher at Chishawasha Mission.
When his family moved from Chishawasha to Kutama in Zvimba, President Mugabe was taught and trained as a teacher by the jesuits, a Catholic order renowned for its strict discipline.
Over the years, Mugabe has adhered to the Catholic faith and still carries a rosary which he was given by his mother when he was going to Mozambique for the struggle in 1975.
President Mugabe last visited the Vatican in 2013 for the inauguration mass of Pope Francis.
In 2011, President Mugabe attended the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, whose funeral he had also attended in 2005 when he shook hands with Prince Charles.
Source - zbc
