The Catholic bishops of England and Wales’s have expressed support for the people of Zimbabwe and have said the church in the UK will join Zimbabweans in their national day of prayer scheduled for April 14.

"In this most Holy of Weeks, I applaud my brother Bishops in Zimbabwe for their courage in speaking out in defense of the oppressed and the poor of Zimbabwe in this most difficult and desperate of times,” said Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth in his Holy Week statement.

Bishop Hollis is chairman of the Department for International Affairs of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe and abroad have been very vocal in their criticism of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his corrupt government.  The bishops have called the Mugabe regime’s continued policies of oppression sinful.