File photo of a demonstration against kidnappings and killings in southern Kaduna state. (Credit: Vatican Media)
CT News
Nov. 21, 2025 : The surge of violence in Nigeria has been a growing concern both within the country and across the international community for many years.
Both Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered in Nigeria, where there is terrorist activity over economic questions, Pope Leo XIV told journalists recently. The Pope stressed the importance of the government and all communities working together to promote authentic religious freedom.
U.S. President Donald Trump made Nigeria a country of particular concern on Nov. 3. The U.S. government gives the designation to countries identified as having or tolerating particularly severe religious freedom violations.
In the wake of the designation, Nigeria’s government denied that ongoing violence in the country is based on religious affiliation or that Christians are being targeted in particular.
The religious freedom report from Aid to the Church in Need found “a severe and escalating wave of violence, largely driven by extremist Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)” during the two-year reporting period.
The report affirms that religious affiliation plays an important role in the ongoing violence in Nigeria, alongside other social causes, including poverty, preexisting ethnic and intercommunal violence, and conflict over land and water disputes between Fulani herders and non-Fulani farmers.
In the video given below, Father Matthias Adugba, a Nigerian priest from the northern region, shares with EWTN, the firsthand accounts of the atrocities he witnessed.
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