Pope Francis has
asked forgiveness for the role of the Catholic Church during the Rwandan
genocide in 1994.
In a meeting
with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the Vatican, Francis said he hoped his
apology would help promote peace in the African country, which was torn apart
by genocide in 1994, and contribute to a 'purification of memory'.
Between April
and July 1994, extremists from the Hutu ethnic minority killed more than
800,000 members of the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
International courts have indicted several Catholic priests for alleged
involvement in the genocide.
In November
2016, the Catholic Church in Rwanda formally apologized for its role in the
genocide for the first time but the Rwandan government rejected the apology as
'profoundly inadequate' and demanded a statement from the Vatican on the
matter.
The Vatican said
in a statement that the pope had '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'.
After the
successful meeting, which held on Monday, Kagame tweeted that the meeting
marked a 'new chapter' in relations between Rwanda and the Vatican and that the
apology was an 'act of courage.'
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