Tag: Nigeria

After reports spread that dozens of Christians in Nigeria have allegedly again fallen prey to kidnappers in yet another sign of persecution against Christ's followers in Africa's most populous nation, some police said the kidnapping did not happen.

A Nigerian bishop urged intensified military action to "eliminate" bandits and their hideouts in the Kainji Game Reserve amid reports of the killing of 50 people between Christmas and New Year's and traumatising of children recently abducted from St Mary's Catholic School in Papiri.

Following the liberation of all the children and staff abducted from St Mary's School in the Nigerian town of Papiri, the Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, who manage the school, have expressed deep gratitude for the support received during the trying period.

Reeling from the 21 November kidnapping of more than 250 kids and teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora said trauma, helplessness and confusion had gripped Papiri, the remote area in the state of Niger.

During the 23 November Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV appealed for the release of over 300 children and teachers abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria.

President Trump has threatened to rain fire and brimstone on Nigeria for allowing Christians to be slaughtered.

Since 2009, violence has killed at least 185,000 people in Nigeria, including more than 125,000 Christians, according to human rights groups.

President Donald Trump said 31 October he would place Nigeria on a religious freedom watch list in response to violence in that country perpetuated against predominantly Christian communities – and subsequently threatened military action if that country's government didn't "move fast" to respond.

The church in Nigeria, ravaged by kidnappings of clergy, mourns Father Mathew Eya, killed 19 September as he was returning to his parish of St Charles in Eha-Ndiagu, in Enugu state.

In Nigeria's Edo state, gunmen stormed Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in the Diocese of Auchi the night of 10 July, killing a security officer and abducting three seminarians, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

A Nigerian priest who previously served in Alaska remains missing after being captured by Boko Haram operatives in his homeland, OSV News has learned.

Faithful on two continents are praying for the safe return of a Nigerian priest who once served in Alaska, and has been kidnapped in his home country.