"I fervently wish that all Rwandans, guided by the civil and religious authorities, may commit themselves in a more and more generous and effective way to national reconciliation and the rebuilding of a new country in truth and justice, in fraternal unity and in peace". This is the wish made by Benedict XVI, contained in a letter sent to the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, on the occasion of the yearly national day of mourning, in memory of the beginning of the 1994 genocide, which was celebrated in the African country on April 7th. In his autographic message, revealed today, the Pope joins in prayer for all the victims of the genocide, defined as "a horrible massacre, without any distinction of religious faith or political and ethnic belonging". And, in recalling how the majority of Rwandans are Christian, the Pontiff concludes: "the Christian faith, if lived with consistency and to the full, is an effective help to overcome a past of mistakes and death, of which the genocide was a climax". May faith spur Rwandans "to build a better future, rediscovering the newness of love".
