The role of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. A look from the perspective of 27 years after the events

Abstract

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church played a specific role. The dominant view in the general public opinion is that these clergy either passively or actively supported the genocide committed by the Hutu tribe against the Tutsi tribe. The reality, however, is more complicated. While there were about 20 collaborating clergymen, over 200 clerics died as a result of genocide. Thismarticle aims to show how complicated and ambiguous the situation of the clergy was during the real threat of death in 1994.