Pope joins bishops’ sorrow at violence turning Nigeria into ‘field of grief’

Around 130 people died within 48 hours last week during attacks across Kwara and Benue states in the North Central region and in Katsina in the northwest of the country.

Pope Leo expressed “sorrow and concern” at violence in Nigeria after a wave of killings last week.

Speaking after the Angelus on Sunday, the Pope mourned the “heavy loss of life” during attacks that killed dozens. He said he hoped the authorities will “continue to work with determination to ensure the safety and protection of the life of every citizen”.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) denounced a “relentless wave of killings and abductions” across the country, warning that continued violence and impunity are turning it into “a field of grief” and eroding the foundations of governance.

In a statement issued on Saturday on behalf of the CBCN, the secretary general of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) Fr Michael Banjo and its national director of social communications Fr Michael Nsikak Umoh voiced “profound outrage and sorrow at the ongoing assault on human life and dignity”.

Around 130 died within 48 hours during attacks across Kwara and Benue states in the North Central region and in Katsina in the northwest of the country.

“Nigeria cannot afford to normalise bloodshed or treat mass killings as routine tragedies,” the CSN officials said, in the statement titled “The Cry of the Innocent: Stop this Slaughterhouse in Nigeria!”

Citing attacks between late January and early February, they questioned how such atrocities could be allowed to continue: “How can it be justified that, outside of war, over 160 innocent civilians were slaughtered in one coordinated attack in Woro, Kwara State?”

They also refer to “the repeated killings and abductions in Agwara and Tungan Gero in Niger State, the wiping out of entire farming communities in Katsina and Kaduna, and the ongoing violence in Borno”.

“This is not ‘instability’ but a massacre allowed by silence and a betrayal of every Nigerian’s right to live in peace,” they added.

On the day the statement was published, terrorists attacked Holy Trinity Parish in the Diocese of Kafanchan, in Kaduna State, and abducted eleven people including Fr Nathaniel Asuwaye. Three others were killed during the attack.

The diocese confirmed the “terrible event”, asking for prayers for the safe release of the captives and for the souls of the dead.

Fr Stan Chu Ilo, senior research professor at the Centre for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University, Chicago, and the president of the Friends of the Pan-African Catholic Network (Pactpan) told The Tablet that “the kidnapping of priests is a reflection of the failure of the Nigerian state to protect its citizens. It’s also an indication that pastoral agents are being targeted in Nigeria”.

In Taraba State, in the North East of Nigeria, armed bandits burned a Catholic priest alive inside his car last week.

Fr David Tanko, a priest of the Diocese of Jalingo, was reportedly travelling to a meeting to mediate between the Tiv and Jukun tribes when he was attacked. His remains were burned beyond recognition.

Locals said the priest, ordained in 2008, was a servant who offered his life to God and to the people, and that he died a martyr.

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