During his greeting to English-speaking pilgrims at the general audience, Pope Francis asked for prayers for a priest killed in Nigeria.
POPE FRANCIS
I ask all of you to pray with me for Father Isaac Achi, of the Diocese of Minna, northern Nigeria, who was killed last Sunday in the parish house. How many Christians suffer violence on their own skin: let us pray for them!
Isaac Achi was pastor of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul. He suffered an assault on his residence on Sunday, January 15. A local bishop told Fides Service that 'the assassins tried to enter the house and, failing to do so, set fire to the house, burning the priest alive'.
Another priest who lived in the same parish house managed to flee, but was shot in the shoulder. In addition, the day before, another Nigerian priest was kidnapped as he left his parish.
According to Aid to the Church in Need, there were four murders of priests and 28 kidnappings in Nigeria in 2022.
In the first 15 days of 2023 alone, two priests and one deacon have already been murdered worldwide.
RM
TR: KG
