Angelus News | February 9, 2024 | Vol. 9 No

the Tinubu administration if
Nigerian Christians must be
set on the way to freedom.
“The destiny of Nigerian
Christians lies in the hands
of international state actors
and nonstate actors to pile
enough pressure on the
government of Nigeria and
compel the government of
Nigeria to do the needful,”
Umeagbalasi told Crux.
He said one way of compelling
the government to
act is by tying foreign aid to
religious freedom. Otherwise,
he said, “the killings
are going to continue and
with catastrophic consequences,
including the total
Islamization of the Middle
Belt.”
Johan Viljoen, director
of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute,
an entity of the Southern Catholic
Bishops’ Conference, recently said the
Nigerian government is at fault for the
mounting threats to Christians in the
country and should be held accountable.
“Any foreign assistance or investment
to Nigeria should be made conditional
to the strict observance of human
rights,” Viljoen said, insisting that victims
of anti-Christian violence should
receive financial compensation for
property destroyed and lives lost.
“The Nigerian government should
pay. It was, after all, the Nigerian government
that failed to ensure the safety
and security of its citizens — one of
the prime duties of any national government,”
he said. Viljoen blamed the
Rebecca Agidi with her son, Oryiman,
pictured in an undated photo in a camp for
internally displaced persons in the Diocese
of Makurdi, Nigeria. In September 2022,
Agidi’s husband was killed and Oryiman
was injured in an attack on the family’s
village by Fulani extremists. | OSV/COUR-
TESY ACN
government of new Tinubu
for doing little to change the
situation, noting that attacks
have continued in Nigeria’s
Middle Belt.
All this background,
perhaps, makes a simple
point for Catholics in the
developed world, including
the United States.
Yes, we may have issues
around which great passions
can be aroused, and their
theological and sacramental
significance shouldn’t be underestimated.
At the same time, however, we
can still go to Mass on Sunday without
taking our lives into our hands —
and, frankly, the same cannot be said
of Catholics everywhere, a fact that
perhaps deserves a greater claim on
our attention.
John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux.
Global hotspots of hate
Although Nigeria may be dominating
headlines in terms of
anti-Christian violence as 2024
opens, it’s hardly the only spot on the
map where Christians face severe
threats.
According to Open Doors International,
a nondenominational watchdog
group, 365 million Christians around
the world face high levels of persecution
and discrimination, representing
15% of all Christians worldwide.
In the organization’s 2024 “World
Watch List,” Nigeria actually ranks just
sixth in terms of where Christians face
the most extreme persecution. The top
five countries are:
1. North Korea: Tens of thousands of
Christians are believed to be incarcerated
in labor camps across the country,
with the mere fact of being a Christian
or possessing a Bible considered a criminal
act under the country’s notorious
“anti-reactionary thought law.”
2. Somalia: The handful of Christians
in the overwhelming Muslim nation
are mostly converts from Islam, and
are subject to immediate execution if
detected by the militant jihadi group
al-Shabab that operates with impunity
in most parts of the country.
3. Libya: Lacking any effective political
authority, Libya is dominated by a
competing cluster of militias and armed
groups, most with a strong Islamic
identity. Christians, including migrants
from sub-Saharan Africa seeking to
make their way to Europe, are frequent
targets for violence, kidnapping, and
trafficking.
4. Eritrea: The country’s intense authoritarian
government perceives Christians
as a special threat to stability, and
operates an extensive prison network.
Many Christian inmates are held in the
desert in metal shipping containers,
which become extremely cold at night
and can reach temperatures as high as
115 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.
5. Yemen: A strongly conservative
Islamic society, threats to Christians in
Yemen, especially Muslim converts,
also have been amplified by a 10-year
civil war. Tribal punishments for deserting
Islam in Yemen generally prescribe
death or banishment.
— John L. Allen Jr.
12 • ANGELUS • February 9, 2024