FAREWELL TO ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS BERNARD NTAHOTURI

3 Jul 2025 • News

The family of Archbishop Emeritus Bernard NTAHOTURI, surrounded by a huge crowd of Christians of different religious denominations and delegations, said farewell to this man whose large part of his life was dedicated to the service of the Kingdom of God.

The Ceremonies of his funerals took place on his native hill of Matana in the Province of Bururi where he began a long journey of service crowned by an unparalleled devotion in seeking peace and unity in Burundian Christianity.

In the presence of the Anglican Bishops of Burundi, the Catholic Bishop of Bururi Diocese, representatives of other churches and Christian alliances as well as officials of Burundian government, testimonies from his family, those who knew him in various sectors where Archbishop Emeritus Bernard held high-level positions recalled the memories of a legacy that he has just left for generations, especially in Christian leadership.

From a vocation of proclaiming the Gospel to the peace and reconciliation activism through advocacy and charity towards his neighbours, all the testimonies about him converge on a mixture of wisdom, humility and leadership that have made Archbishop Emeritus Bernard NTAHOTURI a man who has marked the history of the Church at national, regional and international levels.

Messages of condolences and comfort were sent from the Anglican Communion, CAPA, the neighbouring Anglican Province of Rwanda and Christian organisations in Burundi who remember a passionate servant of a holistic development of the human being.

Those who testified as well as those who came to pay their last tributes to him say that the country and particularly the Church of Burundi has just lost a man that Burundian society still needed.

Archbishop Emeritus Bernard NTAHOTURI leaves behind a wife, children, grandchildren and a large family of those whom he touched with his acts of charity, his message of the Gospel of hope and salvation as well as his advice which were useful to them.

Archbishop Bernard was the 2nd Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Matana and has spent Eleven years at the head of the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi as the 3rd Primate of Burundi, a position he held with other great responsibilities entrusted to him in the region and accross the globe.

For most of those who knew him during the 52 years in the pastoral ministry, Archbishop Emeritus Bernard NTAHOTURI was a faithful witness of the Christian who knew how to join the good news he preached to action and for his family a father who did not fail in his mission despite the enormous responsibilities he had.