Tens of thousands filled Amahoro Stadium on Saturday as Rwanda’s Catholic Church celebrated 125 years since the first missionaries arrived in 1900, an anniversary that dovetailed with the global 2025 Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV.
Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva joined bishops from Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, DR Congo, Kenya, Austria and Germany for a colourful Mass led by Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, Archbishop of Kigali.
In a message read by the Papal Nuncio, Alnaldo Sanchez Catalan, the Pope thanked Rwanda’s Catholics for their fidelity and urged them to remain “a sign of hope” through reconciliation and mutual respect, especially for young people still seeking healing from the past.
Cardinal Kambanda did not shy from the Church’s complex history. While praising the early White Fathers for building schools, hospitals and the charity network Caritas, he acknowledged that some clergy and faithful participated in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
“If the Gospel message had truly been lived, that tragedy would never have happened,” he said, calling for continued repentance while honouring those priests and nuns who risked, and sometimes lost, their lives protecting victims.
Today the Church in Rwanda counts roughly five million faithful, 236 parishes across nine dioceses, more than 1,160 priests, nearly 4,000 religious sisters and brothers, and an extensive social arm: 1,758 primary schools, 1,052 secondary schools, six universities, 10 hospitals and 107 health centres.
“Development without humanity leads to conflict and destruction,” Cardinal Kambanda warned, insisting that Rwanda’s remarkable progress must remain rooted in moral values, strong families and quality education.
The ceremony closed with a minute’s silence for Genocide victims and a renewed pledge from Church leaders to support survivors, a commitment echoed in ongoing programmes for orphans, widows and early childhood centres across the country.
As the jubilee year begins, Rwanda’s Catholics say they are determined to write a new chapter: one where faith, forgiveness and service help sustain the nation’s hard-won peace.
With input from New Times Rwanda
