DECLARATION ON MARIAN APPARITIONS IN RWANDA

VATICAN CITY, JUN 29, 2001 (VIS) - "The Virgin Mary appeared in Kibeho, Rwanda, on November 29, 1981 and in the following months. There are more good reasons to believe it than to deny it." This is part of a declaration made today - and released by the Holy See Press Office - by Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro, Rwanda, in which he makes a definitive statement about this case once the work of a study commission was terminated.

The Declaration of Definitive Judgement On The Apparitions of Kibeho states, in part: "Only the three visionaries from the beginning can be held as authentic: Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka and Marie Claire Mukangango. The Virgin appeared to them under the name 'Nyina wa Jambo', that is, 'Mother of the Word'."

The first part of the Declaration is a brief overview of the facts. The second part is the heart of the document and concerns initiatives taken by Bishop Misago regarding the apparitions.

The three visionaries, who at the time of the apparitions, were, respectively 17, 20 and 21 years old, "responded satisfactorily to the criteria established by the Church on the matter of apparitions and private revelations." The Virgin's message is a continuous invitation to prayer, repentance and conversion, and foretells catastrophes and disasters if her counsel is not followed.

"The main time of these apparitions ends in 1983. Everything else that has been said or done after this date in Kibeho in truth added nothing new in relation to what was known earlier." It was between 1982 and 1983 when "significant events occurred what made so many people speak of Kibeho and rush to visit it. It was also in this period that the basic elements of the message of Kibeho were communicated."

The document does not speak of "the presumed apparitions of Jesus in Kibeho starting in July 1982," about which there are persistent perplexities.

"The recognition of these apparitions of the Virgin Mary," continues the text, "should not be confused with an article of faith: for this reason each Christian is free to adhere to it or not."

The third part of the document offers a series of "pastoral directives which indicate to the faithful how to conduct themselves with regard to this matter."The public cult relative to these apparitions is recognized and was already authorized in 1988 by the then bishop. On November 28, 1992 the cornerstone of the Marian shrine - to be called Our Lady of Sorrows - was laid.

The Declaration "permits the clarification of a situation which has been for a longtime ambiguous for many faithful, as well as for public opinion not only in Kibeho, but throughout the country."

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