VATICAN - Pope meets with the President of Rwanda: pain for the genocide and for the failings of the Church

Tuesday, 21 March 2017 pope francis   violence  

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On Monday, March 20, at the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, received in Audience His Excellency Mr Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda. Subsequently, the President met His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, who was accompanied by His Excellency, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
During the cordial exchanges, the good relations that exist between the Holy See and Rwanda were recalled. Appreciation was expressed for the notable path of recovery towards the social, political and economic stabilisation of the country. Likewise noted was the collaboration between the State and the local Church in the work of national reconciliation and in the consolidation of peace, for the benefit of the whole Nation. In this context, the Pope conveyed his profound sadness, and that of the Holy See and of the Church, for the genocide against the Tutsi. He expressed his solidarity with the victims and with those who continue to suffer the consequences of those tragic events and, evoking the gesture of Pope Saint John Paul II during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, he implored anew God’s forgiveness for the sins and failings of the Church and its members, among whom priests, and religious men and women who succumbed to hatred and violence, betraying their own evangelical mission. The Pope also expressed the desire that this humble recognition of the failings of that period, which, unfortunately, disfigured the face of the Church, may contribute to a “purification of memory” and may promote, in hope and renewed trust, a future of peace, witnessing to the concrete possibility of living and working together, once the dignity of the human person and the common good are put at the centre".
According to data collected at the time by Agenzia Fides, 248 victims among the pastoral workers of the Church were registered in the genocide of 1994, including fifteen deaths as a result of ill-treatment, lack of medical care and disappearances.
The people who lost their lives in Rwanda in 1994: three Bishops and 103 priests (100 diocesan from all the dioceses and three Jesuits), 47 brothers of 7 institutes (29 Josephites, 2 Franciscans, 6 Marists, 4 brothers of Santa Croce, 3 brothers of Mercy, 2 Benedictines and 1 brother of Charity).
The 65 religious women belonging to 11 institutes: 18 Benebikira nuns, 13 nuns of the Good Shepherd, 11 Bizeramariya nuns, 8 Benedictine nuns, 6 nuns of the Assumption, 2 nuns of the Charity of Namur, 2 Dominican Missionaries of Africa, 2 Daughters of Charity , one of the Helpers, 1 of Notre Dame du Bon Conseil and the Little sisters of Jesus. At least 30 secular of consecrated life of 3 institutes (20 Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, 8 of the "Vita et Pax" institute and 2 of St. Boniface institute). (SL) (Agenzia Fides 21/03/2017)


Share: