{{short description|none}} {{Catholic Church by country}} [[File:Rwanda Kigali Eglise de la Sainte Famille 001.jpg|thumb|Kigali cathedral]] The '''Catholic Church in Rwanda''' is part of the worldwide [[Catholic Church]].
There are just over five million [[Catholics]] in [[Rwanda]] - about half of the total population. The country is divided into nine [[dioceses]] including one [[archdiocese]]. The [[Rwanda]]n government reported in 2012 that 43% of the Rwanda's population is [[Catholic]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://statistics.gov.rw/system/files/user_uploads/files/books/RPHC4_Socio_cultural_characteristics_population.pdf|title=Census 2012|work=Rwanda Census Office|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319060208/http://statistics.gov.rw/system/files/user_uploads/files/books/RPHC4_Socio_cultural_characteristics_population.pdf|archive-date=19 March 2015}}</ref> By 2024, membership of the church had stabilised at 45% of the population.<ref name=ACI>{{cite web |url= https://www.aciafrica.org/news/11703/rwanda-shuts-down-over-5500-churches-due-to-non-compliance-with-safety-health-regulations |title= Rwanda Shuts Down Over 5,500 Churches Due to Non-Compliance with Safety, Health Regulations Physics |last= Isenjia |first= Silas |date= 17 August 2024 |website= ACI Africa |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>
In 2020, there were 939 priest and 2219 nuns serving across 205 parishes.<ref>[https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/Rwanda Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08]</ref>
==History== {{seealso|Catholic Church in colonial Rwanda}}
Catholic missionaries known as the [[White Fathers]] established a mission station in Rwanda in 1900, during the German colonial period; by the 1950s the Catholic church was beginning to actively support the demands for the end of the unequal relations between Tutsi and Hutu.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://dacb.org/histories/rwanda-brief/ |title= A Brief History of the Church in Rwanda |last= Ward |first= Kevin |date= 2008 |website= Dictionary of African Christian Biography |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>
In the early 1980s, the village of Kibeho experienced an apparition of the [[Virgin Mary]]; two shrines were built in commemoration of this event.<ref name=DFESW>{{cite web |url= https://english.op.org/godzdogz/the-catholic-church-in-rwanda/ |title= The Catholic Church in Rwanda |last= Ineza |first= Gustave |date= 10 February 2012|website= Dominican Friars of England Scotland and Wales |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>
By 2012, about 55% of the country’s population was affiliated with the Catholic Church.<ref name=DFESW /> By 2015, this was less than 46%.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.eglisecatholiquerwanda.org/en/spip.php?article533 |title= Catholic Church in Rwanda: Historical Overview |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Conference Episcopale du Rwanda |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref> The 5th Population and Housing Census of 2022 counted 39,91 % Catholics.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://statistics.gov.rw/sites/default/files/documents/2025-02/Social-cultural%20characteristics.pdf#page=41 |title=5th Population and Housing Census. Thematic Report: Social-cultural characteristics |publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda]] |date=2022 |format=PDF; 12,4 MB |language=en |access-date=27 April 2026}}</ref>
On November 20, 2016, the Catholic Church in Rwanda released a statement apologizing<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/rwanda-catholic-bishops-apologize-for-role-in-genocide/2016/11/20/70f0fb7e-af5a-11e6-bc2d-19b3d759cfe7_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121122707/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/rwanda-catholic-bishops-apologize-for-role-in-genocide/2016/11/20/70f0fb7e-af5a-11e6-bc2d-19b3d759cfe7_story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-11-21|title=Rwanda: Catholic bishops apologize for role in genocide}}</ref> for the role of its members in the [[Rwandan genocide|genocide in 1994]]. "We apologize for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God's commandments. Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn't show that we are one family but instead killed each other," said a statement signed by the nine bishops constituting the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Rwanda.
In 2022, the Vatican Statistical Yearbook reported almost 1,000 priests and over 2,400 nuns serving 223 parishes across the country.<ref name=CCR>{{cite web |url= https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/rwanda |title= Rwanda |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Catholics and Cultures |publisher= |access-date= 27 January 2026 |quote=}}</ref>
The country was reported as having a religious freedom rating of moderate/low.<ref name=CCR />
== Organisation ==
===Archdioceses and dioceses=== [[File:Ruanda - Arcidiocesi di Kigali labels.png|thumb|Map of dioceses in Rwanda]]
The Roman Catholic Church in Rwanda is composed of 1 ecclesiastical territory with 7 suffragan dioceses.
{{colbegin}} * [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kigali|Archdiocese of Kigali]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Butare|Diocese of Butare]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Byumba|Diocese of Byumba]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cyangugu|Diocese of Cyangugu]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Gikongoro|Diocese of Gikongoro]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kabgayi|Diocese of Kabgayi]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kibungo|Diocese of Kibungo]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Nyundo|Diocese of Nyundo]] **[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Ruhengeri|Diocese of Ruhengeri]] {{colend}}
== Notable Catholic Rwandans == * [[Immaculée Ilibagiza]], author who has detailed her experience of the [[Rwandan genocide|1994 Rwandan genocide]] through the lens of her Catholic faith.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ilibagiza |first=Immaculée. |title=Left to tell: discovering God amidst the Rwandan holocaust |date=2006 |publisher=Hay House, Inc |others=Steve Erwin |isbn=1-4019-0896-9 |location=Carlsbad, Calif.|oclc=62324564}}</ref> * [[Félicité Niyitegeka]], Auxiliaries of the Apostolate, died during the [[Rwandan genocide]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-04-19|title=Felicite Niyitegeka|url=https://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/felicite-niyitegeka/|access-date=2026-02-09|website=Fortune of Africa Rwanda|language=en-US|archive-date=2020-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719063857/https://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/felicite-niyitegeka/}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Religion in Rwanda]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Africa in topic|Catholic Church in|groupstyle=background-color:gold|titlestyle=background-color:gold}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Rwanda}} [[Category:Catholic Church in Rwanda| ]]