Pope denounces massacre of Nigerian Christians; hundreds dead (Vatican News)

Pope Leo XIV denounced the massacre of hundreds of Christians in a village in Benue State, Nigeria.

“During the night between 13 and 14 June, a terrible massacre took place in the city of Yelwata, located in the local administrative area of Gouman, in the state of Benue, Nigeria,” the Pontiff said on June 15, at the conclusion of his Angelus address. “Around two hundred people were killed with extreme cruelty.”

“The majority of those killed were internally displaced people who were being housed at a local Catholic mission,” he continued. “I pray that security, justice and peace prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country that has suffered various forms of violence. I pray in particular for the rural Christian communities in the state of Benue, who have unceasingly been victims of violence.”

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, the capital of Benue State, said that the Church there is a “Church under Islamist extermination.”

Nigeria, a nation of 237 million, is the most populous in Africa and sixth most populous in the world; it is 47% Christian (11% Catholic), 46% Muslim, and 7% ethnic religionist.