Catholic priest disrobed and sacked for having 2 wives

Nigeria: A Catholic priest Reverend Father Peter Zuni at the Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, Kakuri parish, in Kaduna State, Nigeria has been disrobed and sacked from priesthood after it was discovered he had been secretly married to two women.

According to Catholic doctrine, an intending priest have to swear to an oath of celibacy before being ordained as a priest.

According reports by The Sun, one of the wives of the priest who is nursing a child for him exposed the secret.
According to a member of the church (name withheld) who confirmed the news, he said the Archbishop received a petition concerning the issue but tried to bottle up the priest’s ‘sin’ by organizing  a send off for the embattled priest to a remote village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“During the send off, the priest was not allowed to make a farewell speech, and many people refused to take photographs with him. There was little or no felicitation with him because most of the time he was seen standing aloof under a mango tree without anybody going close to him.

“Nobody can say when the priest committed the alleged sinful act. If it happened before his ordination, he wouldn’t have been ordained, so probably it was after his ordination, and you know, God does not sleep, no matter the length of cover up, one day the bubble will burst. And the bubble has burst now,” the parishioner said.

When contacted, the disrobed priest said:

“Nobody is ordained to remain and work in the city. I have spent five years as parish priest of Queen of Apostles, so I can work anywhere, city or village.”

“I find it difficult myself to believe what people are saying about me. I will not comment on it now. I will follow due process to invite you for an interview, but I am afraid, the newspaper of the archdiocese, The Cross News, may carry this story before you (Reffering to the Sunday Sun).”

The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso who also confirmed the report said;

“It is very unfortunate that this thing had to happen in my diocese. It is not an easy thing for me; if I tell you what I have been going through in the past few weeks over this issue; it has not been easy for me. Father Zuni was my classmate; we spent seven years in the seminary. At a time he proceeded to Kaduna Polytechnic and read Accounting.

“But this thing happened and nobody knew. But he has to face the sanction. We sacked and disrobed him because what he did is no longer compatible with his vocation as a priest. It was not true that he was transferred to any village.  He was about to be transferred on normal routine, but when I heard of this story, I had to cancel the transfer and sacked him.

“It is true that he had affairs with two women and they both had children for him, but one of the women is late already. We are not God, we did not know on time until now that he was having affairs with two women.”

Speaking further, Manoso said;

“The church said the priest has to go because the church doesn’t allow priests to marry. So he had to go and look after his children and his matrimonial home.

“You can now imagine what the priest is going through, either spiritually or psychologically. He must be going through hell on earth. This is my concern for him now. The woman and the kids will be going through trauma also.

“I have been trying to see how I can help him, but I don’t think I have the skills to help him. But he needs help to come to terms with reality,” he said almost in tears.