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The rise of the Catholic Television of Nigeria (CTV) is a story of immense struggle much as it is inspiring in an African country that continues to witness arguably the worst form of religious oppression perpetrated by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, ACI Africa has been told.
Days after the abduction of four Nigerian Major Seminarians by men “wearing military uniform”, the Catholic Bishops of the West African nation, the most populous in Africa, are counting on the security agencies in their country to make real their assurance of securing the release of the seminarians and called for prayers for the seminarians’ “speedy release”.
A Nigerian Archbishop has termed as “surprising” and “embarrassing” claims that a Catholic priest in the West African country is partisan in the country’s politics, having expressed explicit support for a State Governor.
At a time when Christians in Africa’s most populous nation of Nigeria are expressing concerns about their security following targeted abductions and killings, a Catholic Bishop in the West African country has, on the occasion of inaugurating a Christian Secretariat, cautioned politicians against using their political parties to cause divisions and enmity between followers of Christ.
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Matthew Ishaya Audu as the new Archbishop of Nigeria’s Jos Archdiocese in the Plateau State of the West African nation.
The President of the international Catholic pastoral charitable organization, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Thomas Heine-Beldern, has described the just ended year, 2019, as a year with a significantly high record of attacks targeting Christians across the globe, including Africa where Christians have been murdered in West Africa.
A week after two Nigerian Catholic priests from Awka Diocese were released unharmed by abductors, another priest from Nigeria’s Issele-Uku Diocese in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, Fr. Samuel Agwameseh has also been set free after three days with abductors, ACI Africa has been told.
A Nigerian Archbishop who recently led a delegation of Local Ordinaries of the Ecclesiastical Province of Kaduna to the violence-prone Kaduna Local Government area within Kaduna state in the north western part of his country identified inequalities and disparities as factors behind the ethnic violence between Muslim and Christian population in the locality.
Two Catholic priests from Nigeria’s Awka Diocese, Fr. Felix Efobi and Fr. Joseph Nweke, who were kidnapped December 6 while on their way to a wedding have been released unharmed.
On Thursday, December 12, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of two African Prelates and made three Episcopal appointments for the Church in Africa that included the transfer of the Local Ordinary of South Sudan’s Torit diocese, Bishop Stephen Ameyu to Juba Archdiocese and the naming of Fr. Daniel Nzika and Fr. Julius Yakubu Kundi as new Bishops in the Congo and Nigeria respectively.
Participants in the four-day Pan-African Congress on Theology that sought to reflect on the faith of the people of God in Africa, evaluate the variety of pastoral and theological approaches and develop, through a joint forum, best practices for evangelization have proposed new ways of doing theology on the African continent, a region of the world continues to record the highest growth rate of Catholicism globally.
The re-arresting of Nigerian journalist, human rights activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore within court premises by the Department of State Security (DSS) hours after he had been freed on bail has angered a section of Nigerians including a Catholic Bishop in the West African Country who has condemned the incident terming it “a grave danger for democracy” in Africa’s most populous nation.
The newly installed Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Abuja in Nigeria, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama has, during his installation ceremony, promised to engage the government in matters that contribute to the common good of Africa’s most populous country, weeks after the country’s President said he would support the ministry of the Church leader in his country’s capital, Abuja.
Ten years after the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops on the theme “The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace” during which Church leaders on the continent deliberated on, among other themes, transforming “theology into pastoral care,” a four-day Pan-African Catholic Congress on Theology, Society and Pastoral Life is set to take place in Enugu, Nigeria, under the theme, “What must we do to perform the works of God.”
A Nigerian Bishop has termed as “an attack on Nigerians” the proposed bill in his country’s National Assembly that seeks to apply capital punishment for those found guilty of hate speech.
A Nigerian Catholic Bishop has joined his compatriots who are campaigning against a proposed bill seeking to regulate citizen engagement on social media terming the attempt a “short walk to totalitarianism” in Africa’s most populous country.
At a time when many African countries are grappling with the menace of corruption and some Church leaders raising their voices against the vice in their respective countries, Catholic scholars in Scripture from Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria reflected about the challenge of corruption in society at a recent meeting.
Nearly two weeks after Fr. Arinze Madu, the Vice-Rector at Queen of Apostles Spiritual Year Seminary was abducted outside the seminary gate and released two days later, Nigeria’s diocese of Enugu has yet again had a priest, Fr. Theophilus Ndulue abducted and released a day later.
Following Pope Francis’ acceptance of the resignation of John Cardinal Onaiyekan from the pastoral care of the Archdiocese of Abuja, and the confirmation of Archbishop Ignatius Ayua Kaigama as his successor, President Muhamadu Buhari has extended a congratulatory message to the new Archbishop, assuring him of his support.
Fr. Arinze Madu, the Nigerian Catholic Priest who had been abducted at the gate of Queen of Apostles Spiritual Year Seminary in Nigeria’s Enugu diocese and later released unharmed has recounted his two-day ordeal in the hands of his abductors and told ACI Africa that his safe release was God’s doing and that he had started preparing himself for eternal life.