HARARE - Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe, resigned on Tuesday, two months after being sued for adultery in a case which he called a vicious government-backed attack.
The 60-year-old cleric, head of the southern Bulawayo archdiocese since 1997, said in a statement he was resigning to protect the Church but would defend himself against the adultery charges in court.
"I wrote to the Pope within days of what was obviously a state-driven, vicious attack not just on myself but by proxy on the Catholic Church in Zimbabwe," Ncube said.
The Vatican said in a one-sentence statement that Pope Benedict had accepted Ncube's resignation under an article of Church law which covers clergy who can no longer perform their duties for health reasons. It has also sometimes been used in cases of clerics who brought their office into disrepute.
In July, Zimbabwe's state-run media published what it said were photos of Ncube in bed with a woman under the headlines "Pius Ncube Shamed" and "Pius in Sex Scandal."
Ncube's supporters said the report was part of a government smear campaign prompted by the archbishop's anti-Mugabe stance.
The cleric has accused Mugabe and his government of human rights abuses and suppressing political dissent.
"In order to spare my fellow bishops and the body of the Church any further attacks, I decided this (resignation) was the best course of action," Ncube said.
He added that he would face his accusers in court as an individual.
In his statement, Ncube vowed he would remain vocal against Mugabe and hinted he might go into politics.
