The action against the nuns is not common in the country, as is the violence against priests and seminarians. Photo: ACN

Two Nuns Are Kidnapped in a Country Where Anti-Catholic Persecution is Growing

Nigeria has a similar number of Christians and Muslims. The Christian community has suffered violence for decades, especially by the Muslim guerrilla. In 2024, eleven priests were kidnapped in Nigeria and three remain disappeared. A priest was murdered at the end last year, although it was an isolated case.

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(ZENIT News / Rome, 13.01.2025).- On January 7 two nuns were kidnapped in the South of Nigeria, confirmed the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ, to which the kidnapped Sister belong.

Sister Vicentia Maria Nwankwo, Directress of the Memorial Archbishop Charles Heerey Secondary School in Ufuma and Grace Mariette Okoli, teacher, were kidnapped on the road to Ufuma when returning from a vocational meeting in Ogboji. The abduction occurred in the state of Anambra

Fides Agency reported on a police operation to find and free the two nuns. The investigation is seeking to clarify the abduction and succeed in liberating them. Criminal gangs operate in the region, exacting ransoms. They are not related to the religious persecution that exists in Muslim areas.

Nigeria has a similar number of Christians and Muslims. The Christian community has suffered violence for decades, especially by the Muslim guerrilla. In 2024, eleven priests were kidnapped in Nigeria and three remain disappeared. A priest was murdered at the end last year, although it was an isolated case.

Maria Sobenna Ikeotuonye,the Secretary General of the Congregation to which the kidnapped nuns belong, asked for prayers for the consecrated women through “the powerful intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary for the swift release from the hands of their kidnappers” and that they may “return safe and sound unconditionally.”

The action against the nuns is not common in the country, as is the violence against priests and seminarians. Data of Aid to the Church in Need highlights the abduction of 28 priests, seminarians and men religious in 2023.The Nigerian Episcopal Conference stated that there were 21 abductions between September 2022 and August 2023. The majority of such attacks ends with the release of the victim a few days later.

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Rafael Llanes

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