Recently president Robert Mugabe visited the Vatican for the beatification of  Pope John Paul II. This sparked widespread debate on whether Mugabe should  be invited to the ceremony. Many people believe that it is outrageous that the church accept and shake hands with a man who is known for the atrocities he has committed against his people. Many people feel his presence at the ceremony should not have been allowed and the Vatican should have condemned it. However on the other hand some people have argued that: “The Vatican is a Church; on what grounds can it ban someone from coming to Mass?”

The incident has caused a large amount of controversy as well as conflict between different ideas and beliefs. Although the argument that the Vatican is a church and on what grounds does the church have to “ban someone from coming to mass” is a valid argument, the pope shaking hands with Robert Mugabe could be seen as a gesture of acceptance that undermines the credibility of the church.

This entry was posted on May 16th, 2011 at 11:29 am by Leigh Worswick and is filed under Activism, Governance, Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.