Mourners at a funeral for a murdered Christians in Nigeria

President Trump has designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” after watching an NBC report on the killing of Christians in the West African nation by Muslim extremists. Trump even threatened military action if the government of Nigeria could not or would not protect Christians from attack by Boko Haram and other Islamists groups that have fighting Christians and each other for decades. Trump threatened on his social media platform Truth Social: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.” Trump has reportedly instructed the War Department to be prepared for possible fast military action if Nigeria’s government will not effectively address the killing of Christians.

The government in Nigeria rejects its designation as a country in which religious freedom is absent and the killing of Christians commonplace. Information Minister Mohammed Idris claimed at a press briefing that “… any narrative suggesting that the Nigerian State is failing to take action against religious attack is based on misinformation or faulty data.” The BBC, in what reads like an effort to undermine justification for Trump’s calling and possibly acting on Nigeria’s failure to protect its Christian citizens, reported that Islamist terrorists, in fact, kill more Muslims than Christians. Well, I guess we can all go to bed tonight relieved that there’s no cause for concern in Nigeria! This is a common theme I’ve seen in columns commenting on the religious persecution in Nigeria: to downplay or dismiss as exaggeration the killing of Christians, usually by playing such against the persecution of more moderate Muslims. I guess the point they’re trying to make is that the tens of thousands of Christians killed in Nigeria are of no concern because even more Muslims have been killed. What a bizarre and truly inhumane argument! It doesn’t matter that these people are being killed in such large numbers, because those people are being killed in even larger numbers!

Meanwhile, in a 2023 article linked to on the Vatican News website, the The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) reports that more than 52,000 Christians have been killed by various Islamist extremist groups since 2009. Intersociety even lists the Nigerian army as one of the culprits in the apparent effort eradicate the Christian faith from Nigeria. Many have been trying to get the United States to notice the reality of religious persecution in Nigeria for years. Trump designated Nigeria a country of particular concern in 2020, during his first term. Biden removed the designation when he took office in anticipation of a 2021 visit to Nigeria by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, much to the chagrin of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which had recommended that Nigeria remain on the list. The situation in the West African nation is so terrible that, according to the organization International Christian Concern, 90% of the 5500 Christians killed for their faith around the world in 2022 were killed in Nigeria. That’s 4950 martyrs for Nigeria and 550 for the rest of the world. Yet, somehow the country failed to meet the Biden administrations criteria for a country of particular concern.

There has been timid response to the persecution from European nations, and it’s unclear what President Trump will do now. He’s threatened to go into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” if the Nigerian couintry doesn’t get it’s act togehter. Of course, that’s the sort of America that plays the hero on a while horse riding in to conquer the villian. Would I mind if he did? I’m not so sure. In the meantime, while Nigerian Catholics are grateful to receive the prayers of Pope Leo XIV and, especially, his willingness to bring attention to the persecutions, when during his Angelus address on June 15 he decried that massacre of 100 to 200 Christians in Benue, Nigeria only two days before. “The majority of those killed were internally displaced people who were being housed at a local Catholic mission,” Pope Leo informed those gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “I pray that security, justice and peace prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country that has suffered various forms of violence. I pray in particular for the rural Christian communities in the state of Benue, who have unceasingly been victims of violence.” Unfortunately, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, apparently doesn’t share the pope’s concerns. At a conference dedicated to religious freedom last month, Cardinal Parolin commented that the conflict in Nigeria is “not a religious conflict, but rather more a social one – for example, disputed between herders and farmers.” In other words, Parolin is parroting the Nigerian government’s talking points. Why? Some think out of fear of offending moderate Muslims. But the moderate Muslims are also being killed in Nigeria, so perhaps the conflict, and working to resolve it, can be turned into a genuine goal of ecumenical peace.

Amidst all of this persecution, Catholics in Nigeria attend Mass at a rate of 94%, the highest rate of Mass attendance in the world.

The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that there is a problem. If Cardinal Parolin does not, or will not, recognize the problem of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, he’s likely to advise the pope, and the Vatican diplomats, to not make a big deal of it. That would be a shame. 50,000 Christians martyred since 2009 is kind of a big deal, whether you want to see it or not.

Pray for the Church in Nigeria!

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.