Robert Mugabe's assault upon the late Pope's memory

It was the opportunity for 1.5 million people, including the representatives of five royal families, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, 15 heads of state, the Pope, the Vatican and Cardinals to honour the memory of John Paul II, by protesting at the presence of Robert Mugabe.

Instead they, by condoning his attendance, colluded with the oppression meted out by this violator of Zimbabwe's people.

Far from repairing the church's image and restoring morale among Christians, such an act bears the hallmarks of the corruption and political expediency which is stripping the church of its moral credibility and public standing.

When Hitler marched into Vienna on March 14th 1938, the Cardinal ordered the bells of Austria to ring. By the end of the war 65,000 Jews in Austria had been slaughtered, 6 million Jews had died across Europe and 60 million people overall.

In 1998, John Paul apologised that the church did not speak out against the Nazi holocaust.

How is it possible, to honour the memory of this very man, by welcoming at the ceremony a present day dictator, responsible for torture and mass murder?