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Bishop Who Received Vision of Jesus Promoting Rosary Campaign to End Violence in Nigeria

Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri Diocese. Credit: ACN

The Catholic Bishop of Nigeria’s Maiduguri Diocese, who received a vision of Jesus telling him to pray the Holy Rosary to restore peace in Northern Nigeria is rallying for participation in a prayer campaign, which Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International launched.

Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme will on Sunday, October 22, lead the prayers at the launch of ACN’s #RedWednesday Rosary Campaign at St Patrick’s, Soho Square in London.

The Nigerian Catholic Bishop has said that those joining the ACN initiative for persecuted Christians across the globe will become “an army of prayer”.

In the run-up to its annual #RedWednesday event in late November, ACN is encouraging Catholics to pray 100,000 decades of the Holy Rosary for persecuted Christians in Africa.

In a Tuesday, October 17 report, Bishop Doeme told ACN, “I encourage all Christians in different parts of the world who are facing one form of persecution or the other to remain steadfast in praying the Rosary. Mother (Mary) will continue to win victory over our persecutors for us. God bless you all.”

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“It was Pope Pius IX who said ‘Give me an army praying the rosary and I will conquer the world,’” the Catholic Bishop, who has been at the helm of Maiduguri Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in August 2009 said.

In April 2014, Bishop Doeme is said to have received a vision in which Jesus appeared at the right side of the altar in his chapel, where he was praying the Holy Rosary for the Chibok schoolgirls who had been kidnapped by the Islamist militant group.

The Nigerian Catholic Bishop is said to have seen Jesus offering him a sword, which turned into a Rosary when he took it. Three times Jesus said “Boko Haram is gone” before the vision ended, he has testified in a video recording.

The member of the Clergy of Nigeria’s Shendam Diocese, who had been ordained a Priest for Jos Archdiocese in Nigeria told ACN he was “totally shaken” by the experience and kept quiet about it for a year.

Even though he did not talk about his vision, Bishop Doeme promoted renewed devotion to Mary and praying the Holy Rosary throughout his Episcopal See.

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“One of the main Marian devotions we embark upon in the Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri is the praying of the Rosary. And this prayer is contributing immensely to our victory over the Boko Haram insurgency in the Diocese,” the Nigerian Catholic Bishop says.

He adds, “Our constant praying of the Rosary has drawn us closer to Our Lady, who in turn is crushing the head of the monster known as Boko Haram.”

According to ACN, Boko Haram in Nigeria is not as lethal as it was a decade ago.

“At the height of its power, in 2014, Boko Haram controlled about 20,000 square miles of northern Nigeria, but successful military campaigns have seen the group lose most of the territory it formerly held,” the Pontifical charity foundation says in the October 17 report.

ACI Africa was founded in 2019. We provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, giving particular emphasis to the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See, to any person with access to the internet. ACI Africa is proud to offer free access to its news items to Catholic dioceses, parishes, and websites, in order to increase awareness of the activities of the universal Church and to foster a sense of Catholic thought and culture in the life of every Catholic.