News / Religion
Mugabe arrives in Rome for papal inaugural mass
18 Mar 2013 at 06:38hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome, Italy, where he will attend the inaugural mass by the newly-elected Roman Catholic Pope Francis I.
President Mugabe is accompanied by Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa and other senior government officials.
He was received at the Rome International Airport By The Zimbabwean Ambassador to Italy, Mary Mubi and the Zimbabwean Ambassador to the Vatican, David Hamadziripi.
The President will join other world leaders, Catholics, Christians and ordinary people at St Peters Square where Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio will hold his inaugural mass.
Pope Francis, the first pontiff from South America, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI and is now addressed as Emeritus Pope, was elected on March 13 by the College of Cardinals in the Vatican City to lead more than one billion Roman Catholic Church members spread across the world.
More than one million people are expected in Rome on March 19 when Catholics celebrate the feast of St. Joseph to honour Jesus's father on earth, the carpenter Joseph.
The new Pope succeeded Benedict XVI, who resigned at the end of February aged 85, saying failing physical and mental strength made him unfit to continue to lead the world's over 1.2 billion Catholics.
President Mugabe, a practising catholic, was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice President Joice Mujuru, cabinet ministers, service chiefs and other senior government officials.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mujuru is the Acting President.
President Mugabe is accompanied by Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa and other senior government officials.
He was received at the Rome International Airport By The Zimbabwean Ambassador to Italy, Mary Mubi and the Zimbabwean Ambassador to the Vatican, David Hamadziripi.
The President will join other world leaders, Catholics, Christians and ordinary people at St Peters Square where Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio will hold his inaugural mass.
Pope Francis, the first pontiff from South America, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI and is now addressed as Emeritus Pope, was elected on March 13 by the College of Cardinals in the Vatican City to lead more than one billion Roman Catholic Church members spread across the world.
The new Pope succeeded Benedict XVI, who resigned at the end of February aged 85, saying failing physical and mental strength made him unfit to continue to lead the world's over 1.2 billion Catholics.
President Mugabe, a practising catholic, was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice President Joice Mujuru, cabinet ministers, service chiefs and other senior government officials.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mujuru is the Acting President.
Source - zbc
