Catholic Church in Burundi

A few years later, in January 1898, Father Van Der Bresen died from a fever, and that same day the mission station was burned to the ground by a violent storm.

A man by the name Mwami Mwezi IV Gisabo tried to run them off his property by the use of charms and supernatural threats, but he was told by another sorcerer that he should stop because Imana would protect them.

[1] During the colonial period, the Catholic Church did not promote ethnic divisions, but the Belgiums and Germans primarily favored the Tutsi when it came to mission services.

By the 1930s, Tutsi chiefs started converting to the Catholic faith like wildfire, and the Hutu were growing in numbers also.

[1] Because the Catholic Church has such a powerful role within the country, during stressful political times has acted either as a balancer or an instigator to mounting tensions.

While Burundi is formally a secular state, in practice a lot of things are influenced and overseen by the Catholic Church.

[4] In April, 2024, the Bishops of Burundi issued a statement denouning the climate of violence in the country, claiming that "forced disappearances and politically motivated murders make one shudder".

[5] “The realisation that there are people in our country who are cruelly murdered or abducted and disappear for political reasons or other macabre interests makes one shudder,” they wrote.

It has been significant in the fight against Malaria by distributing insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and has also has helped deal with the effects of AIDS.

[7] Another Catholic sponsored organization that has helped in the medical aspect as well as education, is Centre d'Entraide et de Developpement.

[1] According to estimates done in 2019 by the U.S. Department of State, the population in Burundi stands roughly at about 12.2 million, of which 62% identify as Catholic.