AMERICA/UNITED STATES - US Bishops express solidarity with Bishops and people of Zimbabwe in serious crisis, and appeal to international community

Washington (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Bishops of the United States have expressed closeness and solidarity to the people of Zimbabwe experiencing a situation of suffering. Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of the diocese of Orlando, president of the US Bishops' commission for international policies, wrote a letter to the president of the Bishops Conference of Zimbabwe expressing the solidarity of the Bishops of the United States with the Bishops and the people of Zimbabwe for the serious crisis affecting the country. In a recent Pastoral Letter "God listens to the cry of the oppressed" the Bishops of Zimbabwe said "the crisis in our country is essentially a crisis in the capacity of the government, a crisis in leadership as well as a moral and spiritual crisis" (see Fides 30/3/2007).
The Catholic Bishops of the United States have great respect for their Brother Bishops in Zimbabwe "for the courageous and faithful pastoral ministry in these difficult times" and they are united with the African country in prayer. They express their solidarity sending the Letter to members of the government and appealing to the nation and to the international community to offer concrete aid in view of a process of negotiation and reconciliation to end the economic and political crisis. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 21/4/2007; righe 15, parole 219)