Augustin Misago (1943 – March 12, 2012) was the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop of the Diocese of Gikongoro,

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. Ordained in 1971, Misango was named bishop in 1992. In the aftermath of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

, he was accused of helping the Rwandan government commit

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s during the mid-1990s, during which time over 800,000 Tutsi people were slaughtered. He was cleared of the charges in 2000. Misago later died in office on 12 March 2012.Augustin Misago
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Our Lady of Kibeho

Misago is known as the bishop who submitted a declaration that the Marian apparation at Kibeho was worthy of belief. In part he stated:

“Yes, the Virgin Mary appeared at Kibeho on November 28, 1981, and in the months that followed. There are more reasons to believe in the Apparitions than to deny them... The Apparitions of Kibeho are now officially recognized... The name given to the Marian sanctuary at Kibeho is "Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows". “That Kibeho become a place of pilgrimage and of encounter for all who seek Christ and who come there to pray, a fundamental centre of conversion, of reparation for the sins of the world and of reconciliation, a point of meeting for all who were dispersed, as for those who aspire to the values of compassion and fraternity without borders, a fundamental centre that recalls the Gospel of the Cross. “This Declaration makes it possible to respond to the expectations of the People of God and to bring new enthusiasm to the public devotion recognized already for 13 years”.

References

21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Rwanda 1943 births 2012 deaths People from Southern Province, Rwanda 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Rwanda Rwandan Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century Rwandan Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic bishops of Gikongoro {{Africa-RC-bishop-stub