News Briefing: Church in the World

The annual report from the Pontifical Mission Societies’ Agenzia Fides said that 17 missionaries were killed across the world in 2025. Of these, 10 died in Africa and five of those in Nigeria, with the others in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Sudan. The 10 dead were six priests, two seminarians and two catechists. 

The Americas saw four missionaries killed in 2025: one priest in Mexico and another in the United States, and two religious sisters in Haiti, members of the Order of Saint Teresa murdered in March by gang members. In Asia, a priest in Myanmar and a lay teacher in the Philippines lost their lives, while in Europe one priest was killed in Poland. 

Pope Leo mourned the missionaries in his message accompanying the report, saying “their witness lives on as a prophecy of the victory of good over evil”.

A series of coordinated terrorist attacks killed at least 32 Christians across northern and central Nigeria during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Observers said the attacks in Adamawa, Kebbi and Plateau states were a reaction to US strikes on jihadist targets in Sokoto state on Christmas Day. 

In Adamawa, militants from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacked three predominantly Christian communities – Higa, Mondag and Timboa – killing at least 15 people and burning more than 200 houses. 

US Congressman Riley Moore condemned the killings in Adamawa and the broader persecution of Christians. He said ISWAP’s declaration that Christians are “legitimate targets” removes any doubt about religious persecution in Nigeria.

The president of Nigeria’s Senate Godswill Akpabio withdrew a series of defamation suits, saying he was inspired by a New Year’s Day sermon. Senator Akpabio announced his decision on 1 January at Sacred Heart Parish in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. He previously filed nine defamation cases in the state against persons he accused of lying against and slandering his name. 

Akpabio said the homily delivered by Fr Donatus Udoefe during the New Year Mass prompted a moment of reflection and led to his decision to close the legal actions.

“I had almost nine cases in court against some individuals who defamed me, who lied against me, who slandered my name,” he said. “But I listened to the priest and suddenly realised he was talking to me, so I hereby direct my solicitor to withdraw all lawsuits against them.” 

In 2025, the Senate president filed several high-profile defamation suits, including one for N200 billion (£100 million) against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan after she accused him of sexual harassment, which he denied and challenged her to prove in court. Earlier in the year, Akpabio wife also filed separate defamation suits against the senator, alleging that her claims against the family were damaging its reputation. 

Relations between the two lawmakers deteriorated after Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Akpabio of influencing her suspension from the Senate in March 2025 following her allegations against him.

A priest in southern Nigeria collapsed and died in his pulpit on New Year’s Day. Fr Steve Chukwuma, the parish priest of St Joseph Catholic Church in Agbor, Delta State, was delivering a homily when he collapsed. He was 63. 

Born in Agbor on 5 June 1962, Chukwuma was an altar server in St John the Baptist Church, Agbor, while he attended Ngala Primary School and Ịka Grammar School in the town. In 1982 he was admitted into the seminary, beginning with the spiritual year in St Paul’s Missionary Seminary in Iperu-Remo, Ogun State, after which he proceeded to Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary in Bodija, Ibadan, where he completed his studies in June 1990.  

He was ordained a priest on 18 August 1990 by Bishop Anthony Gbuji of Issele-Uku in St John the Baptist Church, Agbor. He served as a priest in parishes including St Brigid in Asaba, All Saints in Onicha-Ugbo, St Michael’s in Onichi-Uku, St Charles in Ubulu-Uku and St Michael’s in Ubulu-Uku.  

He was the rector of St Felix Minor Seminary in Ejeme-Aniogor and the dean of the St John of the Cross spiritual year campus in Ekpoma between 1990 and 1995. He was then parish priest of St Michael’s Church in Ubulu-Uku until 1996.

A bishop appealed for financial support for the training of seminarians in Malawi, saying it has become more expensive to pay for tuition even as the number of vocations grows. 

Speaking at a fundraising event last month, Bishop Alfred Mateyo Chaima of Zomba said: “If the Church is to live and grow, we must ensure that no seminarian is sent home due to lack of school fees.” According to Church estimates, about US$30,000 is required annually to pay for each of Malawi’s 37 major seminarians, covering their needs and their tuition. 

“There is no life of the Sacraments without priests, no Church without clergy, and no faith without ministers of the Sacraments,” said Bishop Chaima. “Supporting seminarians is therefore supporting the future of the Church and its service to the nation.”

Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio said 2026 was a Kairos for South Sudan as it recovers from conflict, environmental destruction, political corruption, the abuse of human rights and wide-spread youth unemployment. 

A general election is planned for 22 December 2026, the country’s first since its independence in 2011. Bishop Kussala said both the election itself and the build-up to it would be pivotal to restoring the country to peace and dignity.  

“This is not merely politics, it is about the soul and future of South Sudan,” he said in a New Year pastoral letter. He urged the people of South Sudan to reclaim their hope, saying he had witnessed “the cries of mothers, the frustrations of youth, the silence of the hungry and the prayers of our elders”. 

He continued: “I write as a pastor who has seen fear in the eyes of the people, yet also faith that refuses to die.”

Kussala said that 2025 was marked by “uncertainty, insecurity, economic hardship, political tension, displacement and deep social wounds”. He urged all citizens to register to vote, emphasising that a free election would give them a sense of freedom.

The Archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu warned that “the spectre of renewed hostilities” threatens Iran at the start of 2026. In a message ahead of the World Day of Peace on 1 January, he reflected on Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, warning that “the belligerents are preparing for the worst” and the question was “not if, but when”. 

His message appeared as internal tensions escalated, with demonstrators taking to the streets on 28 December to protest worsening economic conditions, unemployment and depreciation of the Iranian currency. On 4 January US President Donald Trump warned that the US will intervene if the Tehran regime kills peaceful protesters, a threat its foreign minister described as “reckless and dangerous”. 

Cardinal Mathieu’s message said “it is undeniable that ordinary people want to live in peace, far from the horrors of war, as daily life is already difficult enough under the weight of sanctions”. He prayed that peace may be real “in our hearts, in our communities and in our world”.

Authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra arrested a priest of the Church of South India (CSI) on charges of proselytisation, prompting angry reactions from church leaders and politicians in his native Kerala. 

Sudhir William was attending a prayer meeting at the house of a local resident in Shingori in Nagpur city on 29 December when he and his wife and others were arrested after police received a complaint from a Hindutva group claiming they were offering allurements for conversion. Two days later, they were granted bail by a local court. 

Superintendent of Police of Amravati Rural, Vishal Anand, said: “Bail was granted to all eight accused after they were presented in the court for police custody. A resident of Shingori, along with members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, registered a case against the family. Investigations are underway.” 

Bishop Malayil Sabu Koshy Cherian of the CSI Diocese of Madhya Kerala condemned the arrest, calling it a “blatant violation of constitutional freedoms”. He said William has been serving in Maharashtra for the past 12 years, “focussing on educating children and supporting local communities”. 

Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala which has a significant Christian population, said: “This follows a worrying pattern … of targeting minorities to fuel polarisation … Such actions undermine constitutional freedoms.”

The Archbishop of Dhaka Bejoy Nicephorus D’Cruze commemorated Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia, who died on January aged 80, saying “her love for her country, respect for others and compassion for the poor made her unique”. He said of Zia, educated at the Church-run St Joseph’s School, that “despite differences in views and paths, she was determined, courageous and uncompromising”. 

The Catholic Church in Bangladesh joined mourning for the former leader of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), a central figure in the country’s political history who led the government for three terms during the transition to democracy after years of military rule. The bishops said commemorations for Zia should be a moment of reconciliation and hope for the future of Bangladesh.

A 55-year-old priest went missing in the Archdiocese of Palo, in the central Philippines, two days before Christmas. 

Fr Edwin Caintoy was last seen in a bus terminal near a Tacloban City mall in the morning of 23 December, “wearing a white clerical polo shirt and carrying a sling bag” according to the archdiocese chancellor Fr Gwen Lovelino Padagdag in a circular dated 24 December. 

“We earnestly ask the faithful to keep Fr Caintoy in their prayers,” Padagdag said. Police suspected that Caintoy was suffering depression after his sacristan, whom the priest was sponsoring for his studies, reportedly ran away from him.

The case is part of a wider problem of mental health disorders among clergy in the Philippines. In November 2025, the Archdiocese of Cebu said a 68-year-old priest took his own life after his mental health “collapsed”. As of 5 January, the Archdiocese of Palo had not reported whether Caintoy had been found.

A priest from India serving in the Archdiocese of Toronto was arrested by Canadian police for alleged sexual misconduct. Fr James Cherical, who was serving at St Jerome’s Catholic Church in Brampton, Toronto, was charged with sexual assault of a minor. 

The archdiocese said Peel Regional Police charged Fr Cherickal with one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference. The 60-year-old Syro-Malabar priest from Kerala had served in many parishes of the archdiocese over 30 years in Canada. 

“Following our protocols and procedures relating to allegations of misconduct, Fr Cherickal has been removed from pastoral ministry. As with any accused in our Canadian legal system, he is considered innocent until proven guilty and entitled to due process,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans issued a public apology to survivors who say they were abused as children by someone connected to the Catholic Church. 

Beginning on the weekend of 4 January, the letter of apology was published in newspapers across Louisiana as part of the archdiocese’s recent bankruptcy settlement. In the letter, Aymond expresses “profound regret over the tragic and inexcusable harm” survivors suffered.

“I sincerely apologise to you for the trauma caused to you and to those close to you as a survivor of sexual abuse perpetrated by a member of the clergy, a religious sister or brother or a lay employee or volunteer working within the Catholic Church,” Aymond wrote.

“Please know that you are not to blame for the abuse perpetrated on you. You were and are completely innocent and did nothing to deserve the pain you have suffered because of the hideous crime of sexual abuse of a minor.”

Governor Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico signed a law changing the US territory’s civil code to recognise that a conceived child “at any stage of gestation within the mother’s womb” is a “natural person”. 

The new law introduced in late December says: “The representation of the human being in gestation corresponds to whoever will exercise it when he or she is born and, in case of impossibility or incapacity, to a legal representative or court-appointed guardian.” 

Abortion is legal in Puerto Rico to preserve the health of the mother. The new law stipulates that the rights recognised to the unborn child “do not diminish the power of the pregnant woman to make decisions about her pregnancy in accordance with the law”.  

Pro-life activists in the United States nevertheless applauded the legislation. “Puerto Rico’s clear and courageous recognition of preborn babies as persons reflects a deep respect for life and provides a powerful example for lawmakers throughout the United States,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

Nicaragua has banned tourists from bringing Bibles into the country, according to the UK-advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). It reported that notices posted at bus terminals in Costa Rica which operate routes with the Tica bus line into Managua, the Nicaraguan capital, say that journals, cameras and books, including the Bible, are banned.  

“The Nicaraguan government’s efforts to restrict the entry of Bibles, other books, newspapers and magazines into the country are highly concerning, given the current context of repression,” said Anna Lee Stangl, CSW’s director of advocacy.  

She continued: “We call on the government of Nicaragua to lift this ban immediately, and to cease its continued efforts to stifle freedom of religion or belief and expression in the country.” A representative of Tica buses in Honduras told CSW the restrictions had been in place for approximately six months.

A Discalced Carmelite friar published a book investigating the repeated exhumations of the remains of St Teresa of Avila. Muero porque no muero (“I Die Because I Do Not Die”) by Fr Manuel Diego Sánchez is based on 64 separate documents about the sixteenth-century Spanish saint.  

Sánchez wrote and researched the book in Alba de Tormes in western Spain, where St Teresa died in 1582. “This was the book I wanted to write to complete such an important chapter of the town’s Teresian history – and it’s a book that can only be written from here,” he said at the book launch on 21 December in Alba de Tormes.  

The 265-page book reconstructs the sequence of exhumations and re-locations of St Teresa’s body, locating each event within its political, ecclesial and cultural context. It includes an account of the opening of St Teresa’s tomb in 1914 by the local writer José Sánchez Rojas, who witnessed the event as a child.  

“From now on, we no longer need to rely on what we’ve heard, on what our ancestors said, or on scattered readings,” Sánchez said. “We now have a reliable documentary record of what truly happened in Alba de Tormes with the body of St Teresa.”

A major fire caused severe damage to a former Catholic church, one of Amsterdam’s best-known historic buildings, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The blaze broke out just after midnight at the Vondelkerk, the former Church of the Sacred Heart dating from the late nineteenth century which is now used as a cultural venue. The building’s neo-Gothic tower later collapsed. 

The cause of the fire has not yet been established, although online speculation suggested a link to fireworks set off across the Dutch city as part of New Year’s celebrations. There were no indications that anyone was inside the building when the fire started. 

Constructed in the 1870s, the Vondelkerk fell into disrepair in the late twentieth century and was later restored and reopened as a venue for events and performances.

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