AFRICA/RWANDA - Jubilee Year for the 25th anniversary of the apparitions in Kibeho, presided by Cardinal Ivan Dias and a report on Rwanda's ecclesial situation
Kibeho (Agenzia Fides)- “We are very grateful to Cardinal Ivan Dias prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples for coming to preside the Mass to close a special Jubilee year for the 25th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kibeho” Bishop Augustin Misago of the diocese of Gikongoro, in Rwanda, told Fides. The Cardinal Dias presided the closing Jubilee Mass at the Shrine of Kibeho on 28th of November.
“All the bishops of Rwanda were present for the occasion as well as at least 300 priests from Rwanda and neighbouring countries, Burundi and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo” said Bishop Misago. “Large crowds of faithful, about 35,000 came from all over the country, from other African countries and from as far away as the United States ”.
“The Mass, which lasted for more than five hours, was celebrated with a deep sense of devotion and participation: it was a moment of grace for all” said the Bishop of Gikongoro.
With regard to the Kibeho Jubilee, Bishop Misago said “it was lived with great awareness by the faithful. Each month was dedicated in particular to a certain group of people who came on pilgrimage in large numbers: young people, associations of consecrated life, Catholic Family associations etc.
The apparitions at Kibeho were officially recognised by the local Church on 29 June 2001 after 20 years of examination by a two commissions, one medical, the other theological, set up by the local Bishop. Recognition was given on to apparitions received by three persons: Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka and Marie Claire Mukangango. The Blessed Virgin presented herself as Nyina wa Jambo, Mother of the Word.
The Apparitions at Kibeho
The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared at Kibeho for the first time on 28 November 1981 to a school girl 16 year old Alphonsine Mumureke who described the vision of a Lady of incomparable beauty whose skin colour was not well defined. The girl saw the Blessed Virgin while serving her companions at a meal in the school refectory. Eyewitnesses heard the girl speak in French, English, Kinyarwanda and other unfamiliar tongues. Mary presented herself as Ndi Nyina wa Jambo ("I am the Mother of the Word)
On 29 November 1981 Our Lady appeared again to Alphonsine and in the following month of December she appeared almost every Saturday. At first Alphonsine was ridiculed by her school friends but later people outside the school wanted to know more about the case and from January are from 16 December 1982 public apparitions began to happen in the school grounds and private ones in the school dormitory only to Alphonsine and a few pupils. Alphonsine received the last apparition in 1989.
On 12 January 1982 Our Lady began to appear another school girl aged 17, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka. The last apparition she received was in December 1983. However the most surprising visions were those granted, starting from 2 March 1982, to one of the most sceptical of the girls, Marie-Claire Mukangango (21 years old at the time). These apparitions lasted six months.
During the visions the three girls received different messages. On 15 August 1982, they saw vision which was later seen as a warning of the genocide which happened in Rwanda in 1994; Our Lady appears in tears and the girls see "a river of blood, people killing each other, abandoned corpses with no one to bury them, a tree on fire, chasm, a monster, decapitated heads." But in other visions the Blessed Virgin Mary was smiling and asks all men and women to love her as a loving mother of her children ("you need not be afraid of your mother" Mary said). She called all people to convert their hearts, to pray, especially the Rosary, to live with humility and to love their neighbours. The girls were also shown Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.
These apparitions were approved by Bishop Augustin Misago of the diocese of Gikongoro, where the apparitions at Kibeho happened, with a declaration made public on the 29 June 2001. Four other young persons, a boy and three girls, claimed they had received visions of Our Lady and Mary but the visions were not recognised. Since 1982 pilgrimages and conversions have continued at Kibeho.
"Our Lady taught me to pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows, because she said a tragedy was about to happen in Rwanda”, said Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, and she recalled the warning Our Lady gave during her apparitions. “She asked us to change our way of life, to love the sacraments, to do penance and to pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows continually for the conversion of heart of people who live as it God did not exist, and she asked us to be humble and to ask forgiveness and to forgive” Nathalie concluded.
“Forgiveness is a central element of the Gospel message” Bishop Augustine Misago, of the diocese of Gikongoro told Fides. “Without forgiveness it is impossible to build a society founded on the Gospel. Indeed without forgiveness a society will never be peaceful, it will always be strife-ridden”.
Bishop Misago recalled the amazement and disquietude caused by what the visionaries said: “Now we can say this was a prediction of the tragedy of Rwanda, but I remember the feast of the Assumption on 15 August 1982, instead of seeing Our Lady filled with joy, they were shown terrifying visions, rivers of blood pouring out of corpses abandoned without burial on the hillside. At the time no one knew the significance of those terrible images. Now we realise it was a vision of what was to happen in Rwanda and all over the region of the Great Lakes where blood is being shed in Burundi, in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo”.
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