Gunman Kills Priest During Mass Roman Catholic Missionary Shot In Small Rwanda Town

A gunman killed a Roman Catholic priest who was delivering communion to parishioners in a small settlement in northwestern Rwanda on Sunday, church officials said.

The priest, who had worked in Rwanda for more than 35 years, was killed in Kampanga settlement and his body brought to the bishop’s residence, said an official with the Roman Catholic diocese in Ruhengeri. He spoke on condition that he not be identified.

No Rwandan officials were available to comment and details were sketchy.

The priest was identified by his Missionaries of Africa order in Rome as the Rev. Guy Pinard, 61, originally from Trois Rivieres, Quebec.

“He was distributing communion and at that moment was shot, and died immediately,” said the Rev. Pedro Sala. Kampanga is about 9 miles north of Ruhengeri, which is 60 miles northwest of the capital, Kigali.

Pope John Paul II first announced the priest’s death at the end of his weekly appearance from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

“The news has just reached me of the tragic loss of Father Guy Pinard, Missionary of Africa, barbarously murdered this morning during the celebration of holy Mass in his parish of Ruhengeri,” the pope said.

The killing comes two weeks after three Spanish aid workers were killed and an American colleague wounded in an attack on their compound in Ruhengeri.

Two suspects in the killing died later in custody under circumstances that have not been fully explained.

Pinard was “a man who took risks to save others who were in danger,” Sala said. “He was a man of truth, enthusiastic, quite a joyful man.”