Pope Francis has removed from the priesthood a Rwandan-born man who had been a clergyman in northern France for over three decades.
According to an online communiqué signed by the bishop of Évreux, Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, 64, “automatically loses clerical rights” and “is excluded” from ministering “anywhere else” as a priest.
The Office of the Diocese of Évreux confirmed to the BBC the legitimacy of the communiqué, which claims to be based on a March papal order.
Mr. Munyeshyaka, who fled to France following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, has not reacted to the ruling.
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His diocese suspended him in December 2021 after it was revealed that he had legally admitted to being the father of a 10-year-old son.
Mr. Munyeshyaka was ordained a priest in Rwanda in 1992 when he was accused of helping to slaughter hundreds of Tutsis who had fled to his church in Kigali during the genocide.
France’s courts have absolved him of genocide allegations.
Source: Africanews
