Recently, one of two priests kidnapped in Nigeria were released. And this is a common scene in the African country. In 2024 alone, at least ten priests have been abducted.
They are often kidnapped with the goal of receiving a ransom or to further religious fanaticism.
In terms of religious persecution, Nigeria ranks 6th on the 2024 World Watch List. Since 2019, more than 17,000 Nigerians, most of them Christians, have been abducted, according to the Civil Society Joint Action Group.
JANADA MARCUS
Escaped from Boko Haram
They killed my father in front of me. They kidnapped me. We lost everything.
This violence is not a new problem. Last year, Pope Francis dedicated part of one of his General Audiences to a priest who had been killed.
POPE FRANCIS
January 2023
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 rectory. How many Christians personally suffer violence: let us pray for them!
Fr. Isaac was just one of the Christians in the northern and central parts of the country who face armed bandits and radical Islamic groups.
The organization, Open Doors, reports that more Christians are killed for their faith every year in Nigeria than everywhere else in the world combined.
KG
