Catholic church sorry for role of priests and nuns in Rwanda genocide

The Catholic church in Rwanda apologised on Sunday for the church’s role in the 1994 genocide, saying it regretted the actions of those who participated in the massacres.
“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,” said the statement by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was read out in parishes across the country.
The statement acknowledged that church members planned, aided and carried out the genocide, in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. In the years since the genocide – which was sparked by a contentious plane crash that killed the president, Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu – the local church had resisted efforts by the government and groups of survivors to acknowledge the church’s complicity in mass murder, saying those church officials who committed crimes acted individually. Many of the victims died at the hands of priests, clergymen and nuns, according to some accounts by survivors, and the Rwandan government said many died in the churches where they sought refuge. The bishops’ statement is seen as a positive development in Rwanda’s efforts at reconciliation.
Bishop Phillipe Rukamba, spokesman for the Catholic church in Rwanda, said the statement was timed to coincide with the formal end on Sunday of the holy year of mercy declared by Pope Francis to encourage greater reconciliation and forgiveness in his church and the world. Tom Ndahiro, a Rwandan genocide researcher, said he hoped the church’s statement would encourage unity among Rwandans.