Pope Francis is deeply concerned about herdsmen killings in Benue and other parts of Nigeria, says the Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan. Onaiyekan made this known in an interview after Nigerian Catholic Bishops gave account of events within their dioceses in a visit of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBNC) to Rome.
Bishops Wilfred Anagbe (Makurdi Diocese); Peter Adoboh (Katsina-Ala); William Avenya (Gboko) and Michael Apochi (Otukpo), all from Benue state, spoke about the developments in the state. More than 19 persons, including two Catholic priests, Revd Frs Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, were killed by suspected herdsmen in separate attacks on Gwer East and Guma areas of the state on Tuesday.
The armed men reportedly stormed the St. Ignatius’ Catholic Church during an early morning mass, killing the priests and other members. “The Pope is so concerned about what is happening, not only about the Benue killing, but about the situation that has been going on in Nigeria for many months now, even here. He showed deep concern,” Onaiyekan said.
“What he does, how he reacts is probably not something that he will like to put in the newspaper for everybody to see. The Pope has generally his channels for reaching out to government. “The Pope will not speak as frankly as we did because this is our country. We can speak like we wanted. We can speak like we think we ought to speak as leaders of our Church. “The Pope will be using everything, including from a diplomatic point of view.”
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