The pope gave his blessing, well-wishers gave cattle, and 6,000 wedding guests celebrated when President Robert Mugabe wed his former secretary Saturday in a gala public conclusion to their secret decade-long romance.
Thousands of peasants and dignitaries filled the grounds outside the simple steel-roofed Roman Catholic mission church where the 72-year-old Mugabe and 31-year-old Grace Marufu exchanged vows.Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa read a message from Pope John Paul II blessing the couple's "happy occasion" and wishing them "an abundance of divine grace and joy."
Their 7-year-old daughter, Bona, offered her parents their rings from a velvet cushion.
Mugabe and Marufu have one other child, a son. Both were born before Mugabe's first wife died of a kidney ailment in 1991 after 33 years of marriage.
Mugabe paid the traditional bride price to Marufu's family that same year, and they were married in a tribal ceremony in 1992. Despite persistent rumor, his affair with Marufu - whom he met when she joined his staff in 1986 - was not made public until earlier this year.
A former guerrilla leader and strict Marxist, Mugabe has been Zimbabwe's only leader since independence from Britain in 1980. He returned to the Catholic faith when his first wife died.
Saturday's ceremony was conducted at the mission where Jesuits educated the young Mugabe.
The ceremony was a mix of religious pomp and tribal pageantry, with chanting women waving green branches lining the paths to the church.
Church choirs accompanied by tribal drums sang spirituals in the local Shona language. Dancers in animal skins entertained the wedding guests.
The bride arrived in a white limousine that was decorated with heart-shaped balloons. The normally austere president sported white and red orchids on the lapel of his dark suit.
"I think it's wonderful. Our president is going to be given the support he needs," said Praxcedes Mhandu, a young mother who said she traveled 370 miles to witness the celebrations.
President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique acted as Mugabe's best man, watched by President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, President Quett Masire of Botswana and Namibia's President Sam Nujoma.