Thread by @DoubleWDouglas1

Catholic Church’s Role in Rwandan Genocide.
In 1918, after the agreement to end World War I’s fighting, the territory held by Germany on the continent of Africa was split amongst the Allies.

In 1923, Rwanda transferred to Belgium’s rule, where Catholicism was the predominant religion.
Following the national revolution in 1959, Rwanda gained independence in 1961 from Belgium.
Before 🇧🇪 acquisition, a Tutsi king ruled Rwanda though the majority of Rwandans were Hutu.

The Tutsi king converted to Catholicism. Rwanda, then under a Catholic king, became a predominately Christian country.
After 🇧🇪gained control of Rwanda, a consensus was that physical features and cultural habits signified Tutsi or Hutu’s characteristics.

Under Belgium’s rule, the Tutsi and Hutu were split into strict classes, causing discontent among Rwandans.
The Belgian government divided the Rwandan people into categories according to the skin color, nose length, height, and size of their heads.

In 1927, Monsignor Classe, a 🇧🇪 bishop whose opinion was respected by and influential with the 🇧🇪 government, wrote to the government about the Hutu and Tutsi inequality.

He stated that although the Tutsi and their children were smart and progressive, the government should give equal credit to the Hutu and Twa.

In an attempt to clarify his thoughts, stating:
"The greatest mistake this gov could make would be to suppress the "Mututsi caste". Such a revolution would lead the country to anarchy. We will have no better, more active & more intelligent chiefs than the Batutsi.
contd..

They are the ones best suited to understand progress and the ones the population likes best."
Monsignor Classe's attempt to clarify added fuel to the fire🔥.

In 1931, King Musinga, a Hutu chief, was removed and replaced by his son, Mutara III Rudahigwa.
The Catholic Church no longer wanted King Musinga on the throne because he refused to convert to Catholicism.

Once again, the Catholic Church was in a powerful position with a Catholic Tutsi chief as the Rwandan king. By 1945, the Catholic Church baptized ninety-five percent of the Tutsi. During this time, Belgium was planning a reorganization of Rwanda.

The Belgian government wanted Rwanda to be a Christian state. The Belgian government-built schools operated by Catholic priests to keep the support of the Catholic Tutsi king.
These funds supported the Catholic Church and the priests who taught at the school.

The parish pastors were able to
become wealthy by this support, causing power struggles and participation in “ethnic politics.”
In 1952, Jesuit missionaries went to work in Rwanda at the request of King Mutara III.
They focused on feeding the poor and educating the children.

The Jesuit missionaries educated the Hutus.
The Catholic Church blamed Belgium for the ethnic class designations and by entering Rwanda, disturbed the native culture.

In 1955, in retaliation to the Church’s complaints, the Belgium government directed the Jesuits to move their school from Rwanda to Usumbura, Burundi, present-day Bujumbura, Burundi.

With the encouragement and assistance of two Catholic missionaries, eleven politically powerful Hutu elite wrote a declaration demanding a resolution to the inequality and racial discrimination. This nine-page document dated March 3, 1957, was called The Manifesto of the Bahutu.

The Manifesto also blamed Belgium for civil unrest in Rwanda because Belgium was an absent ruler.
The Manifesto writers demanded that the government continue the practice of indicating whether a Rwandan was Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa on official government identification cards.

In 1959, the Catholic Church, assisted by the Belgian government, again incited the two groups.
Belgium removed the Tutsi king from power, ending the monarchy.
The first President of Rwanda, "Gregorie Kayibanda", was one of the authors of The Manifesto.

To gain control of the Tutsi, the local government, joined by many Hutu, killed thousands of Tutsi.
Many other Tutsi went into exile in nearby countries to escape the killings. For their safety, thousands of Tutsi left Rwanda.

It was at this point that the Catholic Church again showed that it was involved in “ethnic politics.”
Catholic bishops at the Vatican issued a statement condemning racism. Not surprisingly, the government’s reply was retaliatory.

The government removed the Tutsi Monsignor as head of the seminary, replaced him with a Hutu soldier, and closed the convent. Several priests wrote letters to the Catholic Church leaders expressing concerns about the ethnic quota status in the schools and businesses.

They requested the Church speak openly about its objections to this practice.
Still, the Catholic Church remained silent, even when thousands of Tutsi and sympathizing Hutu were forced into exile to save their lives.

None of the Christian churches in Rwanda “specifically denounced the ethnic massacres” before the 1994 genocide.
The Rwandan people took the church leader's silence as consenting to the abuse and believed that their church leaders did not condemn the massacres.

According to the Vatican, the Catholic Church was also a "victim" of the Rwandan genocide. However,
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , based out of Tanzania, found the following Catholic priests, nuns, guilty of actively participating in the genocide, 2 listed here

1. Belgian Catholic priest Father Guy Theunis – charged with inciting the genocide by publishing magazine articles against the RPF; extradited to Belgium for prosecution.
However, a Belgian church newspaper Kerk en Leven (Church and Life) granted him "Peace Prize".

2. Rwandan Catholic priest Father Jean François Kayiranga & Rwandan Catholic priest Father Edouard Nkurikiye – charged with leading about two thousand Tutsi to seek refuge in their church & then bulldozing the church; both priests were tried in April 1998 and sentenced to death.

3. Rwandan Catholic Priest Athanase Seromba - charged with having his church bulldozed after he found that all inside had not died, he was sentenced to 15 yrs.

4. Rwandan Catholic bishop manager Augustin Misago - Charged with leading "Death Squad" acquitted in 2000

6.Sister Julienne Maria Kizito & Mother Superior Gertrude Mukangango -accused of aiding d killers by giving gasoline to burn Tutsi.

Last but not least. At Parish of Saint-Famille Catholic Church in Kigali, roughly 8000 sought refuge under protection of Father Wenceslas Munyashyaka. Munyashyaka hand picked those be killed, handed over girls to be raped by miltia & raped some girls himself.