Rwandan bishops rap report blaming church for complicity in genocide

Published: 2004-08-24

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Rwanda's Catholic bishops criticized a government report that lays fresh blame on the Catholic Church for complicity in the nation's 1994 genocide. "There are deplorable and painful errors in the report, as serious and grave accusations are made that have no basis in factual truth," the bishops wrote in a letter dated July 26. "The report was compiled in haste and was distributed widely and recklessly for who knows what reason," they said. The Aug. 21 edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, translated and published the letter, which was signed by the head of the Rwandan bishops' conference, Archbishop Thaddee Ntihinyurwa of Kigali, and bishops from Rwanda's eight other dioceses. The bishops said their letter was addressed to the report's authors with the aim of highlighting "some mistakes in need of correction." Rwanda's Parliament set up a special commission in January 2004 to look into the massacres carried out in the southern province of Gikongoro. The commission also identified people or organizations it said held "genocidal ideas," which are now prohibited by law in Rwanda.

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