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Catholic Complicity and Rwanda Genocide

Human-rights advocates are demanding an apology from the Catholic Church for its alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, arguing the church did not do enough to stop the killings.

Now, an international court is trying several Catholic priests for their alleged role in the massacres, in which Hutus murdered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The Archbishop of Kigali declined to be interviewed but in a written response to questions by NPR he says the church didn't have the power to stop the killings. He adds flatly that no Rwandan clergy were involved in the genocide.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jason Beaubien is NPR's Global Health and Development Correspondent on the Science Desk.