The burial ceremony of celebrated Catholic priest, Father Ubald Rugirangoga, will take place on Tuesday, March 2, at his home parish in Western Province, according to reliable information from the church. This was confirmed by Célestin Hakizimana, Bishop of Gikongoro Diocese, who said that remains of late Rugirangoga were repatriated in the country on Saturday, February 27. Hakizimana is also the acting Apostolic Administrator of Cyangugu Diocese where Rugirangoga was serving. “His body arrived on Saturday, but will be laid to rest in the morning hours of Tuesday, next week,” Hakizimana said in an interview with The New Times on Sunday, February 28. The body of Father Ubald Rugirangoga, a renowned Catholic priest who died in the U.S last month, arrived in the country on Saturday, February 27. / Photo: Igihe Rugirangoga’s remains arrived in Rwanda after a funeral mass in the United States, where he breathed his last on January 8, following respiratory complications linked to Covid-19. “On Monday, his body will be taken to Regina Pacis for a requiem mass before being taken to the Centre for Secret of Peace in Nkaka Parish in the evening. “The burial ceremony will then take place in the same area on the following day,” Hakizimana added. According to Hakizimana only 20 people whose identity, he didn’t reveal, will be allowed to take part in the burial ceremony as part of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. “But the ceremony will also be live-streamed on various platforms including Pacis TV, as well as the Catholic radio (Radio Maria). We believe this will facilitate other people to follow the ceremony.” Before his untimely passing, Rugirangonga was the Director of Centre of Secret of Peace in Nkanka Parish, Rusizi District, a responsibility he had held since 2010. In an earlier interview, Hakizimana said that the cause of his death came as a side effect of Covid-19. The late priest had battled for months and later healed from it. He died from Utah, United States where he was on treatment for a couple of months. Rugirangoga had travelled to the United States in March 2020 where he was invited to lead mass and pray for the sick, but could not come back in April as planned because of Covid-19 preventive measures that were in place restricting air travel among others. He eventually contracted the virus himself. Born on April 26, 1955 in Karengera Sector, Nyamasheke District, Rugirangoga was a genocide survivor whose father was killed in 1962 and his mother in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. At this place, in Nkanka, Rugirangoga would run seminars urging Genocide perpetrators to seek forgiveness and survivors to forgive their tormentors as part of the healing process from the wounds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The 65-year-old was in 2015 rewarded as a protector of friendship pact umurinzi w’igihango by Unity Club-Intwararumuri, led and founded by the First Lady Jeannette Kagame.
