Catholic Church in Rwanda

The Catholic Church in Rwanda is part of the Catholic Church.

Kigali cathedral

There are just over five million Catholics in Rwanda—about half of the total population. The country is divided into nine dioceses including one archdiocese. The Rwandan government reported on November 1, 2006, that 56.5% of the Rwanda's population is Catholic.[1]

History

On November 20, 2016, the Catholic Church in Rwanda released a statement apologizing[2] for the role of its members in the genocide in 1994. "We apologize for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God's commandments. Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn't show that we are one family but instead killed each other," said a statement signed by the nine bishops constituting the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Rwanda.

See also

References

  1. International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Rwanda. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. "Rwanda: Catholic bishops apologize for role in genocide".


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