Pope Leo XIV on Sunday asked for the immediate release of children and staff abducted last week from a Catholic school in Nigeria, one of the worst mass kidnappings ever recorded in the West African nation.
Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped students and teachers from St. Mary’s school in the northwest of the country on Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said, the latest in a spate of school attacks this week that has forced the government to shut 47 colleges.
CAN said on Saturday it had raised its estimate of those taken from the school to 315 from an earlier estimate of 227, following a “verification exercise”. On Sunday, the organisation stated that 50 students had escaped from captivity.
At Sunday prayers, Leo XIV called for the immediate release of students and priests kidnapped in recent days in Nigeria and Cameroon. Also, six Catholic priests were kidnapped from the Archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon, and a Baptist pastor was abducted in the same region.
Speaking in St Peter’s Square, the Pope said he had “learned with immense sadness the news of the kidnappings of priests, faithful, and students”.
“I feel deep sorrow, especially for the many abducted boys and girls and their anguished families,” the pontiff said.
He appealed for their immediate release, calling on the “the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to secure their liberation”. Finally, the Pope invited everyone to pray that churches and schools might never be the target of violence.
“Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours, that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope.”
Friday’s abduction was the latest in a wave of attacks by armed groups targeting vulnerable civilian populations.
The abductions came as US President Donald Trump threatened military action over what he claims is the persecution of Christians by radical Islamists in Nigeria.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of the kidnappings of priests, faithful, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon. I feel great pain, especially for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their anguished families,” Pope Leo said at the end of a mass in St. Peter’s Square.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release. Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours and that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope,” the Pope stressed.
Meanwhile, the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN) in collaboration with a coalition of Nigerian Christians and Civil Society Groups have requested the United Nations Security Council in conjunction with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately send a team of investigators to ascertain the credibility of claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria.
The groups stated that they fully support the intervention of the government of the United States of America in Nigeria by whatever means aimed at putting a final end to the intractable criminal impunity against Nigerian Christians.
Reading their joint statement during an online media briefing on Sunday, the groups said they believe that there is genocide against Christians in Nigeria, being perpetrated by Islamic groups.
Speaking on behalf of the groups, Bosun Emmanuel of the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria, said with current realities in the country, it has become questionable that some people think that the mere denial of what constitutes genocide translates to its non-occurrence with Christians in Nigeria.
“The fundamental issue here is that the acclaimed Muslim victims were not killed by Christians by any guise but by the Islamist perpetrators of the heinous crime,” he argued.
He noted that the onus of proving genocide lies on the survivors’ victims and not on the perpetrators and it makes no meaning if conspirators deny the occurrence of Christian genocide in Nigeria, as what matters is the ‘incontrovertible evidence’ that is already reckoned with in the global arena.
He said based on relevant clauses in international law, the government of the US is legally protected and guided under international humanitarian law to intervene in Nigeria to stop the alleged ongoing genocide against Christians.
“We therefore hereby request the United Nations Security Council in conjunction with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately send a team of investigators to ascertain the veracity of Christian Genocide in Nigeria.
“We affirm without the least equivocation that there is genocide against Christians in Nigeria perpetrated by Islamic groups and, that even as we speak today the same genocide is on-going.
“We don’t intend to belabour ourselves disputing whether the mass slaughtering of Christians in Nigeria today by Muslims could be defined as genocide or not, as some people appear to claim.This is because what constitutes the crime of genocide in international criminal law is well spelt out in Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ratified by UN General Assembly resolution 260.
“The argument that some Muslims are victims, does not vitiate the occurrence of Christian genocide in Nigeria; and hence, is an obnoxious misinterpretation and misrepresentation of what constitutes Genocide.
“Curiously, it begs the question as to why Nigerian Muslims feel that the killing of their members by their fellow Muslim does not constitute acts of terrorism and genocide.
“Nigerian Christians having established the crime of genocide against them by groups whose affinities with Islam are not hidden have the right to invoke the relevant provisions of international statutes to report such. It’s an aberration to expect anyone subject to Islamic ideology to deny ISWAP or ISIS and their operations,” the group said.
Furthermore, the groups thanked Nicki Minaj, a globally recognised musician, for speaking eloquently in raising the plight of Christians in Nigeria at the UN, as well as Bill Maher on his media platform, and many others.
Other signatories to the document were: Dr. Nwankwo Nwaezeigwe from International Coalition Against Christian Genocide in Nigeria; Dr S. D. Gani of the National Christian Elders Forum; Elder Sunday Oibe of Lay Faith Trust Foundation; Jonathan Akuns of the Middle Belt Voice; Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi from Apostolic Round Table and Prof. Kontein Trinya from The National Prayer Altar.
Others included : Rev. James Pam of the Plateau State Indigenous Independent Ministers’ Association; Mark Lipdo of Stefanos Foundation; Prophet Isa El Buba of the Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria; Dr. Paul Gadzama from Education Must Continue, and Dr Rotimi Olokodana from The Missions House.
Also listed were: Kingsley Ayinde of God’s Sovereign Army of Intercessors; Dr Immanuel David from Voice of Truth Agents; Dr Luke Shehu of Arewa Christian Indigenous Pastors Association; Mrs. Laide Okafor from Wailing Women Worldwide and Prof. Ashong Ashong of the Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship.
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