The Silent Church
Many priests and nuns who spoke out on human rights abuses were killed. Some priests tried to stop the genocide, but many also refused to condemn it. Indeed, in a grotesque perversion of their calling, large numbers of clergy actually assisted the killers, whether by denying sanctuary to those fleeing or, in some cases, betraying the hiding places of the Tutsis and leading their killers to them.
The Catholic Church was gravely discredited by the events surrounding the genocide. It was, after the government, the single most powerful institution through the work of its social, education and medical institutions. It had maintained a cosy relationship with the colonial administration and then the Tutsi ruling elite, and as independence approached it began to support the aspirations of the Hutu majority.
The late Archbishop Vincent Nsengiyunva was a member of Habyarimana's MRDN political party. It was perhaps, therefore, not surprising that during the genocide the church chose to remain silent.