Italian missionary honoured for saving 3,000 during Rwandan genocide

(July 20, 2009) An Italian missionary priest was among ten people honoured this week for their heroic actions during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which claimed some 800,000 victims. Father Mario Falconi, who still works in Rwanda, saved more than 3,000 Tutsis, by hiding them in his parish church in Muhura (eastern Rwanda), the state Radio Rwanda said on Monday. He was presented with the award in a ceremony organised by Ibuka, an organisation of genocide survivors. Father Falconi told Radio Rwanda that during the crisis he had refused to be evacuated to Italy because he wanted to remain near the people he was protecting. He said he simply did what was expected of any Christian. “I only protected them from the killers just as Christ protects His Church,” he added.