In an odd outburst, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda blasted pilgrims who “wake up in the early morning, walk for three days to go to (a place) where a vision appeared, a pilgrim land, a place associated with poverty.”
“If I ever hear about this again, that people travelled to go and worship poverty, I will bring trucks and round them up and imprison them, and only release them when the poverty mentality has left them,” he added.
The 1981 apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho have received approval from the local bishop, and a shrine there attracts thousands of pilgrims.
“In his address at the youth event, President Kagame did not at any point mention a specific pilgrimage site, and certainly not Kibeho,” a presidential spokeswoman said. “What he was most likely referring to is an informal pilgrimage-type event that takes place in Rutsiro district.”