5,000 Catholics killed in a single Nigerian diocese
May 12, 2015
More than 5,000 Catholics have been killed by Boko Haram terrorists in a single Nigerian diocese, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.
In the Maiduguri diocese, in northeastern Nigeria, at least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes because of the terrorist violence, and over 350 churches have been destroyed. In some cases, churches were destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again.
Boko Haram now controls most of the territory within the diocese, ACN reports. Of the 40 parishes and chaplaincies, 22 have been deserted, as have 32 of the 40 elementary schools and four of the five convents.
The Maiduguri diocese now includes about 7,000 widows and 10,000 orphans, the figures show. Father Gideon Obasogie, a spokesman for the diocese, tells ACN that “people are very scared and those who are able to return home find there is nothing left.”
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