Kigali, 19 July, 2021 / 7:18 pm (ACI Africa).
There is only one Vatican-approved Marian apparition that took place on the African continent: Our Lady of Kibeho.
From 1981 to 1989, there were reports of Marian apparitions in Kibeho, Rwanda. While the local Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro approved public devotion to the apparitions in 1988, it was not until 2001 that he and the Holy See declared the testimonies of three witnesses authentic, regarding apparitions that began in 1981 and that continued in “the months that followed” through 1983.
Immaculée Ilibagiza, the author of a book about Our Lady of Kibeho, told EWTN News In Depth on July 9 that Mary was asking Catholics to “say the rosary, come back to God, be sincere.”
“She is such a mother,” Immaculée added. “She comes as a teacher, as a mother to teach her children. So [if] you listen to her, you’re on a good path.”
Ilibagiza is perhaps best known for her biography, “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust,” where she documented her survival of the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994. She lived, she said, because of her faith.