Robert Christopher Ndlovu was installed as the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Archbishop of Harare on 21 August 2004.

Education and career

Ndlovu was born on 25 December 1955 at Tshongokwe,

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi r ...

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. He was educated at the Marist Brothers Dete in the

Hwange Hwange (formerly Wankie) is a town in Zimbabwe, located in Hwange District, in Matabeleland North Province, in northwestern Zimbabwe, close to the international borders with Botswana and Zambia. It lies approximately , by road, southeast of Vi ...

diocese before entering the Major Seminary at

Chishawasha Chishawasha is the name of a Roman Catholic Jesuit Mission (station), mission located about 25 km east of Harare, Zimbabwe. The mission was founded by the Jesuit priest Father Francis Richartz in 1892 on a large farm. The mission has 3 schools ...

. He was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

on 28 August 1983 at the age of twenty-seven in Hwange, Zimbabwe. On 9 February 1999, aged forty-three, he was appointed Bishop of Hwange and consecrated three months later.

Archbishop of Harare

On 10 June 2004, aged forty-eight, Ndlovu was appointed Archbishop of Harare and installed on 21 August 2004. Ndlovu has openly criticised the regime in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

for forced evictions and other human rights abuses. He has stated that the ''"role of a bishop and of the church in general is to stand up for human dignity, and from human dignity flow

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

"''. This has angered some in the government who respond that the Archbishop is sowing seeds of tribal discord. In August 2020 the Papal Nuncio for Zimbabwe visited the archbishop, and expressed solidarity for his positions on the treatment of Zimbabwean citizens.

Service roles

Ndlovu serves as Chancellor of the Zimbabwe Catholic University. He also founded the Mother Patrick Primary School at

Waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

. As Archbishop of Harare, Ndlovu is President of the

Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference The country's Catholic bishops met in the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference, ZCBC), established by the Holy See on October 1, 1969. The statutes of the Conference were approved on March 25, 1981. The ...

(ZCBC). In May 2011, Ndlovu consecrated the St Bakhita Catholic centre for the disabled at Makumbi.

References

External links

Profile at Catholic Hierarchy website
1955 births Living people 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Zimbabwe People from Harare Roman Catholic bishops of Hwange Roman Catholic archbishops of Harare Zimbabwean Roman Catholic archbishops {{Christian-clergy-stub