KIGALI, Rwanda (Fides/CWNews.com)

    Having been cleared of genocide charges, and released from the threat of a death sentence, Bishop Augustin Misago has announced his desire to travel to the Vatican.

    "I must come to Rome to thank Pope John Paul II for his closeness," the bishop told the Fides news service shortly after his release from prison. Bishop Misago had been behind bars since April 1999; he was denied bail as he awaited the outcome of his trial on genocide charges.

    "I am not well. Fourteen months in prison are hard for an innocent man. I need medical treatment to regain my strength," the bishop reported. "But I hope, in a few weeks time, to return officially to my diocese. My people are waiting for me and I want to resume my ministry."

    "This is the day of justice and peace!" exulted Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio as he celebrated the court's decision acquitting Bishop Augustin Misago on genocide charges.

    Archbishop Pennacchio, the papal nuncio in Rwanda, observed that the court's decision was "in conformity with the evidence brought forward in court, which demonstrated without the slightest doubt Bishop Misago's absolute innocence."

    The nuncio also noted that when the verdict was read in court, the crowd reacted with a loud burst of applause. "Everyone was hugging everyone," he reported. That popular reaction, he said, suggests that the people of Rwanda recognized the bishop's innocence, and supported the Catholic Church despite government efforts to paint the Church as a scapegoat for the mass killings of 1994.

    In Rome, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, the prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization, also expressed pleasure with the verdict. But in an interview with Fides, the cardinal cautioned that the trials of the African Church are not over. "Bishop Misago was not the only one targeted," he observed. "In central Africa-- the Great Lakes Region in particular-- there is a move to weaken the Church under various pretexts.. In Africa we see a strategy similar to the one used in the 1970s in South America, when to weaken the witness of the Church, they attacked bishops and encouraged the spreading of cults and ideologies."

    Cardinal Tomko charged that many political forces are aligned against the Church, because Catholic leaders defend individuals against ruthless commercial exploitation. But he saw the role of the Church as an important and positive one. "The Church in the region of the Great Lakes is not afraid: she works fearlessly for reconciliation, peace and justice, welcoming even the destiny of martyrdom," he said.

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