Pope Leo XIV has issued an appeal for the liberation of students, clergy, and worshippers abducted in a series of violent attacks across Nigeria and Cameroon.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square after Sunday Mass, the Pope said he felt “immense sadness” over the reports of mass abductions in recent days and that he wanted decisive intervention from authorities.
The Pope’s remarks come as Nigeria and Cameroon grapple with a renewed surge of kidnappings targeting Christian communities.
On Friday, in the isolated Papiri district in Niger state, Nigeria, gunmen stormed St Mary High School, a Catholic school, abducting more than 300 students and staff.
According to the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, although 50 children later managed to escape and were reunited with their families, at least 265 students and teachers remain in captivity.
The abducted children, ranging from 10 to 18 years old, are believed to have been taken into the dense forests that straddle Niger and neighbouring states, where armed gangs have long operated unhindered.
Just days earlier in Cameroon, six Catholic priests belonging to the Archdiocese of Bamenda were seized in Ndop, while a Baptist pastor was also taken in the neighbouring Jakiri area in Bui division.
There has been no new information provided by Nigerian officials on the progress of the rescue operation, and no faction has stepped forward to take responsibility for the kidnappings.
“I feel deep sorrow especially for the many boys and girls who have been abducted, and for their anguished families” the Pope said.
“I make a heartfelt appeal that the hostages be immediately released, and I urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their liberation.”
Pope Leo XIV appealed to the international community to remember the victims and to pray for the protection of vulnerable communities across West Africa.
“Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours, that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope,” he concluded.
The attack in Niger state occurred four days after 25 pupils, mostly Christian, were taken in a similar raid in Maga, a predominantly Muslim Kebbi state town 106 miles away.
As reported last week by AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, a representative of the Kwara state government in Nigeria, some 38 worshippers kidnapped during a deadly raid on the Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state were released. The attack left two people dead before hostages were taken.
President Bola Tinubu warmly received the release of the Kwara and Kebbi hostages, vowing that the government would “not relent” until every abducted person is brought home.
“Every Nigerian, in every state, has the right to safety — and under my watch, we will secure this nation and protect our people,” he said.
US President Donald Trump sparked international debate when he recently stated that Christians are facing persecution in Nigeria and that he was prepared to take military action.
Security analysts suggest lax justice has emboldened gangs operating across the northern states.
“The absence of consequences is what is fuelling these attacks,” Confidence McHarry of SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy, told the Associated Press.
In response to the latest assaults, Niger state ordered the closure of all schools, while federal authorities temporarily shut vulnerable institutions in other high-risk areas.
Mass abductions have become a hallmark of insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the northern region, where criminal groups routinely target schools as high-value hostage sites.
More than 1,500 students have been kidnapped in the past 10 years, many set free only after ransom payments.
The most famous incident was the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, in which more than 200 teenage students aged 16 to 18 were seized from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, by the Boko Haram terrorist group.
