Pope Francis has defrocked a Rwandan priest who has been living in France for nearly 30 years.
Wenceslas Munyeshyaka was notified of the Pope’s decision by the Bishop of Evreux, a northern French diocese.
Bishop Christian Nourrichard said the decision was not subject to appeal.
“By decree dated March 23, 2023, received last week, the Sovereign Pontiff Pope Francis, by his supreme and final decision, which is not subject to any appeal, has dismissed in pœnam from the clerical state Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Kigali (Rwanda) and currently residing in the Diocese of Evreux,” Bishop Nourrichard said in the notice dated May 2.
“Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka is exempt from all obligations arising from sacred ordination, automatically loses all the rights specific to the clerical state, is excluded from the exercise of the sacred ministry and cannot function as lector or acolyte, nor to drink communion nowhere. He should avoid places where his previous status is known."
In December 2021, the Bishop of Evreux suspended Munyeshyaka from clerical duties after it was alleged he had sired a child which is against the church’s customs.
Earlier in 2006, he was convicted of genocide crimes in absentia by Gacaca courts in Rwanda. He faced more charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), but the UN tribunal later referred his case to the French judiciary where he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Munyeshyaka remained in France where he continued to serve as a priest in different parishes, until his 2021 suspension by Nourrichard.
The defrocked priest is yet to comment on the Pope’s decision.
