However Ncube, the head of the Catholic church in the Bulawayo diocese, insisted he had "not been silenced by the crude machinations of a wicked regime."His lawyers said the photos were an attempt to discredit him and in a statement the 60-year-old cleric said his decision to resign was aimed at protecting the church from further "attacks" and enable him to challenge the adultery charges privately.Regular critic"I remain a Catholic bishop in Zimbabwe and will continue to speak out on the issues that sadly become more acute by the day," the bishop said in the statement released in Bulawayo, the country's second-largest city.
The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the resignation.
Ncube, who had been archbishop since 1998, has been a regular critic of the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe and called for international pressure on the president.
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