I am pleased to welcome you as you make your pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, you who have received from the Lord the duty to guide his Church in Rwanda. I thank Bishop Alexis Habiyambere of Nyundo, President of your Bishops' Conference, for his fraternal words. Through you, I address an affectionate greeting to your communities, encouraging priests and faithful, severely tried by the genocide of 1994 and its consequences, to remain firm in faith, to persevere in the hope given by the Risen Christ, overcoming every temptation to become discouraged.