By CatholicVote | Created at 2025-01-22 20:36:12 | Updated at 2025-01-26 07:29:17
3 days ago
CV NEWS FEED // A sobering report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) details the growing dangers faced by priests, including a rise in kidnappings and murders among clergy in 2024.
There were 122 documented incidents involving priests and religious in 2024, which included 13 murders and 38 kidnappings, according to ACN. Ten of these incidents involved women, eight of whom were kidnapped and two arrested.
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Haiti emerged as the most dangerous country for clergy, witnessing 18 priests and religious kidnapped amid a severe national security crisis.
Although Nigeria continues to be recognized as a hazardous region for clergy, the number of reported kidnappings decreased in 2024, with 12 cases documented.
All the victims in both Haiti and Nigeria were eventually released, according to the report.
Other countries such as Brazil, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also reported incidents involving the abduction of priests.
In addition to the kidnappings this year, four priests remain missing from previous years. Fathers John Bako Shekwolo (2019), Joseph Igweagu (2022), Christopher Ogide (2022), all from Nigeria, and Father Joël Yougbaré from Burkina Faso, who was kidnapped in 2019, have not been accounted for, bringing the total number of kidnapped clergy to 42.
The report also details the murders of 13 priests in 2024, with incidents occurring in the United States, South Africa, Spain, Mexico, Cameroon, Venezuela, and South Sudan.
In South Africa, two priests were murdered in a span of just over a month. Father William Banda, originally from Zambia, was killed by a man who waited for him in his church, escorted him into the sacristy, and then shot him. Similarly, Father Paul Tatu Mothobi was killed after witnessing a murder; he was forced into a car and shot in the head to eliminate him as a witness.
The report mentions other violent incidents, including the murders of two catechists in Burkina Faso, a minister of the Word in Honduras, and an altar boy killed alongside his family in a shooting in Mexico.
At least 71 clergy members were put under arrest in 2024 due to their faith or for performing their religious duties. Nicaragua remained the most troubling location for religious persecution, with 25 clergy members arrested since January, although this number includes individuals detained in previous years.
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