IGIHE

Category: Religion

  • ‘Forgive Me Im Pregnant’—Miss NUR

    {{The Crown beauty Queen of National University of Rwanda, has admitted that she is indeed pregnant and has sought for forgiveness at the altar in the Anglican Church at Remera.}}

    Isimbi Deborah and her lover Safari Bryan on Sunday appeared before the church congregation and asked to be forgiven that they had sinned.

    However, the couple did not reveal how old the baby is in the womb.
    sources close to Isimbi at the National University had intimated to IGIHE that her pregnancy was in the last trimester.

    A few weeks ago IGIHE had published an article detailing pregnancy of Isimbi which she and her lover strongly denied saying that they were not expecting but were planning a wedding. They are both classmates at the University.

    “I am thankful to God that am able to stand before you. I am standing here to ask God and the Christians in this church to forgive us. I grew up in this church. I attended children’s Sunday school of this church. We have been lovers for the last six years. We have sinned. But God has not punished us but blessed us with a child. That’s why we are here to ask for your forgiveness. Am also a daughter of pastor”.

    In his testimony, Safari told the congregation, “We became powerless and sinned, but we have since found time and strength to seek for forgiveness from our parents. We are here because one of us is a member of this church. We have come to seek forgiveness from this church”.

    Pastor Antoine Rutayisire, Isimbi’s dad, also arrived at the church where he told the congregation that he still loves his daughter despite the sin she committed.

    “I love my daughter Isimbi and will continue to do so. As a Chrisitian I know what God requires me to do in such a situation of Isimbi. I have to be close to her in such times and show her that God loves her,” He said.

    Finally the Congregation took to their Knees and prayed together for Isimbi.

    Isimbi and Safari are slated to wed on 31 March 2013.

  • New Pope To Be Announced Tuesday

    {{The Vatican has set Tuesday as the the start date for the conclave that will elect the next pope. }}

    The Roman Catholic Church’s press office said the decision was taken after a vote by cardinals on Friday.

    Tuesday will begin with a Mass in the morning, followed by the first round of balloting in the afternoon.

    All of the 115 cardinal electors will vote for the next leader of the 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church.

    Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise abdication last month has drawn most of the world’s cardinals to Vatican City for discussions on the problems facing the church, and to discuss who they want to succeed him.

    There is no clear favourite to take the helm of the Vatican, which faces an array of problems following Benedict’s rocky, eight-year reign, ranging from sexual abuse scandals to internal strife at the heart of the Vatican administration.

    The cardinals have made it clear they want a quick conclave to make sure that they can all return to their dioceses in time to lead Easter celebrations, the most important event in the Roman Catholic calendar.

    Vatican insiders say the longer the general pre-discussions go on, the easier it should be to establish the best candidates for pope.

  • Ghanaian Priest Claims on Miracle Cash Stir Debate

    {{Claims by a Ghanaian fetish priest that he is helping preachers in Africa acquire supernatural powers has ignited debate in Zimbabwe where a number of prophets are performing extraordinary miracles.}}

    While some dismissed the claims that were published in last week’s edition of The Saturday Herald on the basis that the sangoma’s utterances were not authenticated, others feel he could have influenced some local preachers.

    Others defended prophets who are claiming to help people receive miracle money, heal different ailments and make followers receive gold nuggets.

    Last week, a “sangoma” from Ghana said over 1 700 pastors and “men of God” from different parts of Africa had approached him seeking powers to perform miracles.

    The fetish priest, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, who operates from a shrine at Sa-Peiman, a village on the outskirts of Nsawam in east Ghana, said his god was called Kofi-Kofi who provides him with supernatural powers that are desperately needed by pastors from all walks of life.

    He claimed prominent businesspeople and celebrated church founders frequent the shrine for his services and entered the shrine barefooted and without a phone or a wristwatch.

    As part of his rituals, the priest hangs a cat alive and slaughters several fowls, a white dove, pigeons and goats and then spills the blood on his god.

    The inner shrine is packed with several other gods and also has many cartons of talcum powder, bibles, razor-sharp machetes hung around the room, a rifle, golden rings, money, padlocks, calabashes and many other items which are veiled.

    Said Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe leader Bishop Trevor Manhanga: “We should not be surprised at all at the phenomenon that is taking place, but we should not go to church seeking miracles, but God.”

    “God is not an ATM or father Christmas doling out gifts. We go to church to worship the Creator and even if He does not work a miracle in our lives, we still continue to worship Him.”

    Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe president Reverend Johannes Ndanga said he did not doubt the fetish priest’s claims.

    “This does not mean that there are no genuine men and women of God who indeed are doing miraculous works, but we should not just assume all miracles being done are in the power of God,” he said.

    “Ghana and Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) are the most popular countries where people visit to get those supernatural powers.”

    Apostle Alexander Chisango of Kingdom International Ministries said evil spirits could perform false miracles, false prophecies, false signs and false wonders.

    “Scriptures and experience also reveal that formerly true servants of God can become possessed or deceived by the angels of darkness and start performing either miracles, signs, wonders, or giving prophecies completely out of divine order,” he said.

    “This can be done for selfish reasons and motives including financial greed, like it was with Balaam (Numbers 22:1-7). Such ones are not called prophets at all, but diviners or fortune tellers.”

    There some who feel that the Ghanaian fetish priest is out to discredit true prophets of God and mislead people.

    They criticised some local preachers for siding with the sangoma and “judging other men of God”.

    “If a fellow man performs miracles in the name of Jesus, he is labelled a satanist,” said Sanwell Ketiwa of Harare.

    “They do not believe that God can do more than they have heard with their own ears and they do not believe that God can do things with anyone besides them.

    “Anything they have not experienced is coming from the devil. Some have even become arm chair journalists attacking other preachers.”
    Rodwell Mutengwa also of Harare said people should not be irked by prophets who were doing their best to heal the sick.

    “They are delivering the poor from poverty and when you criticise them you become an instrument of the devil,” he said.

    “I wonder if there is anything wrong if the prophets whom you call Satanists heal the sick and make the lame walk, are you the devil that enjoys to see people suffer.”

    Herald

  • Cardinals Begin Secretive Process of Picking New Pope

    {{Catholic cardinals from around the world begin on Friday the complex, cryptic and uncertain process of picking the next leader of the world’s largest church.}}

    Some details are still unclear, owing to Benedict’s break with the tradition that papacies end with a pope’s death, so these “princes of the Church” will first hold an informal session before traditional rounds of talks begin on Monday.

    No front-runner stands out among the 115 cardinal electors – those aged under 80 – due to enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave that picks the new pope, so discreetly sizing up potential candidates will be high on the cardinals’ agenda.

    They will also use the general congregations, the closed-door consultations preceding a conclave, to discuss future challenges such as better Vatican management, the need for improved communication and the continuing sexual abuse crisis.

    Benedict ended his difficult eight-year reign on Thursday pledging unconditional obedience to whoever succeeds him to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics at one of the most problematic periods in the Church’s 2,000-year history.

    “The discussion we have in the congregations will be most important for the intellectual preparation” for choosing a pope, said Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, adding the electors were already preparing spiritually for the vote by intense prayer.

    “I would imagine each of us has some kind of list of primary candidates, and others secondary,” said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago at a media briefing with O’Malley and another American cardinal, Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

    Reuters

  • Pope to Officially Resign Today

    Pope Benedict XVI will resign today (Thursday) evening .

    The pope earlier said he faced a “difficult and trying” decision in relinquishing leadership of Roman Catholicism’s more than one billion faithful, a step he will today (Thursday) evening.

    Although he plans to retire to a life of study and prayer, the pontiff told the crowd on Wednesday that there was no going back to his prepapal life, noting that his election eight years ago marked the end of “any privacy.”

    “There is no returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry does not revoke this. I do not return to private life,” Pope Benedict said, addressing the square, which was thronged with banners from around the world.

    “I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord,” he said.

    The pope’s resignation, which was announced two weeks ago, is an event that hasn’t occurred in six centuries. It shocked the rank-and-file faithful.

    The Holy See has been putting the finishing touches on the protocols the Church will use to address the future pope emeritus, as he will be called, as well as the vestments he will wear.

    On the cobblestones around Saint Peter’s, the past week has played out as a series of final bows and last acts. On Sunday, the pope spoke from the window of the papal apartments for the last time, and on Wednesday, he mounted the ivory-painted popemobile for a final ride as its namesake passenger, gliding through a thicket of flags and chants of “Viva, il Papa!”

    In his address, the pope reflected on his election and on the tumultuous years that came in its wake. Over the course of his papacy, the pope garnered praise for his writings and drew large crowds during trips abroad.

    Controversy, however, loomed over his administration, including the spread of the sexual-abuse crisis across the world and bouts of infighting within Vatican ranks.

    That tumult has drawn calls from within Vatican walls and beyond for the election of a successor capable of reining in the Church’s sprawling ranks.

    “I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea of Galilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant,” the pope said.

    “There have [also] been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us—as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been—and the Lord seemed to sleep,” he added.

    The remark referenced a gospel passage in which Jesus Christ sleeps amid a storm at sea and then awakes to calm the tempest.

    The turnout in St. Peter’s Square was higher Wednesday than in many of the pope’s public audiences in recent years.

    However, the piazza’s oval contours didn’t brim with faithful the way it did in the early days of his pontificate, following the death of his predecessor, John Paul II.

    “We have come just for this occasion to say goodbye to this pope, because he worked a lot and was very patient,” said Carmen Marsal Moyano, 54, who had traveled to Rome from Madrid with her husband.

    The pope, she said, “should have been recognized instead of criticized.”

    wirestory

  • Pope Says He Resigned For Good of Church

    {{Pope Benedict bid an emotional farewell at his last general audience on Wednesday, saying he understood the gravity of his decision to become the first pontiff to resign in 600 years but that he had done it for the good of the Roman Catholic Church.}}

    Addressing an estimated 150,000 people in St Peter’s Square the day before he steps down, Benedict said his crisis-hit papacy had included moments of joy but also difficulty when, “It seemed like the Lord was sleeping.”

    Sitting on an ivory colored throne on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica and frequently interrupted by applause from the crowd, the pontiff said: “There were moments when the waters were choppy and there were headwinds.”

    When he finished his speech the crowd, including many red-hatted cardinals, stood to clap.

    Benedict will abdicate on Thursday night and then cardinals begin consultations ahead of a conclave to choose his successor.

    He said he had great faith in the future of a troubled Church, adding: “I took this step in the full knowledge of its gravity and rarity but with a profound serenity of spirit.”

    Loving the Church meant, “having the courage to take difficult and anguished choices, always having in mind the good of the church and not oneself,” he said.

    The pope says he is too old and weak to continue leading a Church beset by crises over child abuse by priests and a leak of confidential Vatican documents showing corruption and rivalry among Vatican officials.

    A huge crowd from Italy and abroad had flowed into the sprawling square in bright sunshine since early morning for the mid-week audience which is normally held indoors but was moved outside to accommodate faithful wanting their last glimpse of the pope.

    Many in the crowd, which streamed into the square across the Tiber River and along nearby streets, held up banners thanking the pope and wishing him well. “We are all on your side,” one banner said.

    Reuters

  • Pope’s Last Blessing Drawing Crowd

    {{The last chance for a Sunday blessing from Pope Benedict XVI from his studio window is drawing a crowd to St. Peter’s Square.}}

    The vast cobblestone space was filling up with faithful as well as others wanting to see Benedict in his next-to-last scheduled appearance to the public before he retires to a seclude life of prayer in a Vatican monastery.

    Benedict, 85, steps down on Thursday, the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. He will hold his last public audience in the square on Wednesday.

    The Sunday appearance from the papal apartment window overlooking the square is a cherished tradition for pilgrims and tourists, usually attracting a few thousand people.

    Officials say this history-making moment could draw far more than 100,000 despite forecasts for heavy rain.

  • Zanzibar Govt Accused of Failing to Protect Clerics

    {{The Roman Catholic Diocese in Zanzibar on Monday blamed the Zanzibar government for what he termed as inability to protect Christian religious leaders.}}

    The Zanzibar Bishop Augustine Shao told a news conference in Zanzibar that the Church has been reporting evidence on threats issued to the Christian leaders but “all these have fallen on deaf ears”.

    Bishop Shao said some people had been sending threats and hatred text messages and leaflets but nobody had been arrested in connection to that.

    He was briefing journalists on funeral arrangements for Father Evarist Mushi, 55, who was murdered on Sunday near a Church at Mtoni in the Zanzibar Municipality.

    In a quick rejoinder, the Zanzibar police commissioner, Mr Mussa Ali Mussa, dismissed Bishop Shao’s observations, saying the police were not working under anybody’s pressure.

    “Do you want us to protect Catholics, even if they are in their normal chores? We have so many cases and we are interrogating some suspects,” said Mr Mussa.

    He added: “We are not working under anybody’s pressure. We have also seen leaflets in the streets but we don’t know people behind them. How can we arrest them?”

    Bishop Shao said the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations have written to President Jakaya Kikwete and the Zanzibar leader, Dr Ali Mohammed Shein, but no action had been taken.

    He said Christians were being attacked by people who received assistance from overseas.

    “I am not saying that the police should guard us in our homes but they should at least listen to us when we seek their assistance,” said the cleric.

    Speaking on the late Fr Mushi’s funeral arrangements, Bishop Shao said a requiem mass will be held today at the St Joseph Parish at Minara Miwili and later laid to rest at Kitope.

    He said Fr Mushi has served the Zanzibar Parish for the past 10 years. He moved to Zanzibar when he was 18 years old.

    Fr Thomas Assenga, a colleague of Fr Mushi, said he spent the last moment talking to him for four hours on Saturday night. He was shoot dead the following day at around 7am.

    NMG

  • RGB Intervenes in Muslims Wrangles

    {{Conflicts among the Muslims community in Rwanda have pushed Rwanda Governance Board to establish a Commission which will help them resolve misunderstandings reported in the Muslim Association, AMUR.}}

    On 15th February, 2013, a group of 10 Sheikhs wrote an SOS letter to RGB stating that the association is facing movement of segregationist ideology and bad leadership so RGB could intervene to resolve the matter.

    Since then RGB has established a Commission led by a certain Nadine Umutoni and that commission has been chosen according to the desire of Muslims and that Commission does not include any agent of Muslim religion.

    Reports say that conflicts among the Muslims of Rwanda are so deep to the point that some of them do not want to see some Muslims who hold senior positions in the country including Rwanda’s Minister of Internal Security Moussa Harerimana Fadhil and other members.

  • Crowds gather for pope’s Sunday blessing

    {{Crowds are gathering in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Benedict XVI’s first Sunday window blessing since his retirement announcement, and the second-to-last before he leaves the papacy.}}

    The traditional Sunday appointment normally attracts a few thousand pilgrims and tourists, but city officials expect that this historic occasion may draw up to 150,000 people.

    The city threw on extra buses and subway trains, and is offering free shuttle vans for the elderly and disabled.

    Free hot tea is also being prepared to ward off the early morning chill.

    Benedict shocked the world last week by announcing he is resigning on Feb. 28 — the first papal abdication in 600 years.

    He will live essentially a cloistered life in a monastery behind Vatican City’s walls.