Pope Leo XIV has issued an appeal for the liberation of scholars, clergy, and worshippers abducted in a series of violent attacks across Nigeria and Cameroon.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square after Sunday Mass, the Pope said he felt “immense sadness” over the reports of mass abductions in recent days and that he wanted decisive intervention from authorities.
The Pope’s remarks come as Nigeria and Cameroon grapple with a renewed surge of kidnappings targeting Christian communities.
On Friday, within the isolated Papiri district in Niger state, Nigeria, gunmen stormed St Mary High School, a Catholic school, abducting greater than 300 students and staff.
According to the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, although 50 children later managed to flee and were reunited with their families, at the very least 265 students and teachers remain in captivity.
The abducted children, starting from 10 to 18 years old, are believed to have been taken into the dense forests that straddle Niger and neighbouring states, where armed gangs have long operated unhindered.
Just days earlier in Cameroon, six Catholic priests belonging to the Archdiocese of Bamenda were seized in Ndop, while a Baptist pastor was also taken within the neighbouring Jakiri area in Bui division.
There has been no recent information provided by Nigerian officials on the progress of the rescue operation, and no faction has progressed to take responsibility for the kidnappings.
“I feel deep sorrow especially for the various girls and boys who’ve been abducted, and for his or her anguished families” the Pope said.
“I make a heartfelt appeal that the hostages be immediately released, and I urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to make sure their liberation.”
Pope Leo XIV appealed to the international community to recollect the victims and to wish for the protection of vulnerable communities across West Africa.
“Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours, that churches and schools may all the time and in all places remain places of safety and hope,” he concluded.
The attack in Niger state occurred 4 days after 25 pupils, mostly Christian, were taken in the same raid in Maga, a predominantly Muslim Kebbi state town 106 miles away.
As reported last week by AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, a representative of the Kwara state government in Nigeria, some 38 worshippers kidnapped during a deadly raid on the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state were released. The attack left two people dead before hostages were taken.
President Bola Tinubu warmly received the discharge of the Kwara and Kebbi hostages, vowing that the federal government would “not relent” until every abducted person is brought home.
“Every Nigerian, in every state, has the suitable to safety — and under my watch, we’ll secure this nation and protect our people,” he said.
US President Donald Trump sparked international debate when he recently stated that Christians are facing persecution in Nigeria and that he was prepared to take military motion.
Security analysts suggest lax justice has emboldened gangs operating across the northern states.
“The absence of consequences is what’s fuelling these attacks,” Confidence McHarry of SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy, told the Associated Press.
In response to the newest assaults, Niger state ordered the closure of all schools, while federal authorities temporarily shut vulnerable institutions in other high-risk areas.
Mass abductions have turn into a trademark of insecurity in Nigeria, especially within the northern region, where criminal groups routinely goal schools as high-value hostage sites.
More than 1,500 students have been kidnapped prior to now 10 years, many let loose only after ransom payments.
The most famous incident was the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, through which greater than 200 teenage students aged 16 to 18 were seized from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram terrorist group.
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