Bujumbura, 20 August, 2025 / 11:36 PM
The Vatican Secretary of State has concluded his official visit to Burundi with a call on the people of God in the East African nation to further the path of reconciliation and realize lasting peace.
In his address at the Prince Louis Rwagasore Clinic, where Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney, the late Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi passed on, Pietro Cardinal Parolin emphasized the need for efforts towards the respect of human rights.
“I would like to greet beloved Burundi with the same words with which Saint John Paul II greeted it,” Cardinal Parolin said Monday, August 18, as he prepared to leave the country, adding, “People of Burundi, you have immense tasks ahead of you.”
“Do not stop on the path that leads to true fraternal reconciliation and to unity, which alone will allow you to overcome the obstacles of poverty and to pursue the necessary development of your country,” the Vatican Secretary of State, who arrived in Burundi on August 12, said.
He continued, “Remain faithful to the precious goods of the noble traditions of your heritage. Be attentive to respecting the rights of every human being, to living freely and with confidence in your future.”
“Strengthen peace in the land you inhabit, entrust your sorrows and anxieties to God, the Father of all love, to Christ the Savior, and to the Spirit of truth,” Cardinal Parolin said.
Reflecting on his stay in Burundi, the Vatican Secretary of State said, “As I am about to conclude my stay in this beautiful land of Burundi, I feel like reacting as Saint Peter did on the summit of Mount Tabor.”
“Every step since my arrival is engraved in my heart, and I would like once again to warmly thank the President of the Republic and his government, here represented by the Vice President of the Republic, for the extraordinary hospitality I have received,” Cardinal Parolin said, and also praised the strengthening of diplomatic ties between Burundi and the Holy See.
“The recent opening of a diplomatic mission of Burundi to the Holy See marks a step of maturity in the relations between the two parties and raises Burundi even higher in the concert of nations,” he said.
When he arrived in Burundi on August 13, the Vatican-based Cardinal was received by the country’s President, Évariste Ndayishimiye, at the Ntare Rushatsi Presidential Palace.
While celebrating Holy Mass with members of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Burundi (CECAB), the Cardinal lauded the Bishops’ courage in the pastoral ministry of reconciliation.
He noted that given the history and evolution of Burundi over the last six decades, unfortunately marked by conflicts, the CECAB members have gained significant experience in the pastoral ministry of reconciliation.
“You devote yourselves to it with courage, and His Holiness Pope Leo XIV encourages you in this,” he said.
Referring to the initiatives undertaken by most Burundian Dioceses in favour of peace and reconciliation, through the organization of synods or the establishment of pastoral centres dedicated to this mission, Cardinal Parolin conveyed a message of encouragement and perseverance on behalf of the Holy Father.
On August 14, in Minago, the Vatican Secretary of State laid the foundation stone of a monument dedicated to Archbishop Courtney.
Appointed by Pope John Paul II as Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi in August 2000, the Irish-born Papal diplomat was assassinated in December 2003, while serving in Burundi.
“It is with deep emotion that I set foot on this monument, at this place where an event took place that marked a sad page in the history of Burundi and a painful stage in the relations between the Holy See and the country,” Cardinal Parolin said.
Highlighting the late Apostolic Nuncio’s dedication, he said Archbishop Courtney “lived his mission intensely by remaining close to the weakest.”
He emphasized that “the Holy See has never ceased to ask the Burundian state that the full truth be shed on this matter.”
The Cardinal also blessed the foundation stone for a health center to be built in his memory, as well as the first stone of a new Major Seminary to be established in the Catholic Diocese of Ruyigi.
On August 15, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cardinal Parolin presided over Holy Mass for the elevation of the St. Anthony of Padua Parish —located within the territory of the national Marian shrine of Mugera, part of the Archdiocese of Gitega—to the status of Minor Basilica.
During the Mass, Cardinal Parolin issued an appeal to “overcome personal interests, so that people around the world may focus on serving the common good.”
On August 17, during Mass at the Sanctuary of Mont Sion Gikundo, the same venue that welcomed St. John Paul II during his Apostolic visit in 1990, Cardinal Parolin recalled the martyrdom of Blessed Floribert Bwana Chui, the Congolese martyr Beatified in Rome on June 15.
“To be disciples of Christ is to be ready to face all kinds of adversity for him and in his name. The martyrs, who refuse every compromise by offering their lives for God or for their neighbour, leave us with clear examples in this regard,” he said.
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The Vatican Secretary of State added, “These models and examples are not always far from us, as shown by the recent beatification by Pope Leo XIV of the young Floribert Bwana Chui, martyred in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 8, 2007.”
Bwana Chui, he recalled, “refused to compromise with the forces of corruption, choosing honesty at the risk of his life.”
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