Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan speaks at the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 9, 2021. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Rome Newsroom, Jan 12, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
After gangs of gunmen killed at least 200 people in Nigeria’s Zamfara State last week, Cardinal John Onaiyekan said that things must change.
The Nigerian cardinal explained that over the past five years armed bandits have terrorized northwestern Nigeria, causing a great deal of damage.
“They attack farmers’ fields, kill farmers and no one says anything. And then they started with kidnappings,” Onaiyekan said in an interview in Italian with Vatican News published on Jan. 10.
In the most recent incident, gangs of bandits on motorbikes attacked nine villages over the course of three days, causing at least 200 deaths, according to local authorities.
“We all weep for these victims,” Onaiyekan said.
Around 10,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by this month’s violence.
The release of 30 abducted students also made headlines over the weekend of Jan. 8-9. The students had been held in captivity for seven months.
“There are still many victims of kidnappings, and their parents and relatives have no way of paying what is requested. And the government believes it cannot do anything,” Onaiyekan said.
The 77-year-old archbishop emeritus of Abuja, the country’s capital city, said that it was “unacceptable” that armed bandits were still holding hundreds of children and teachers for ransom.
“The government says it cannot identify precisely where these bandits are and where they take their victims. Some children kidnapped from schools have been missing for more than a year, some girls for seven,” he said.
More than 1,400 children were abducted in Nigeria last year, according to the United Nations.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the “appalling attacks” in Nigeria in a statement on Jan. 10.
“I urge the Nigerian authorities to spare no effort in bringing those responsible for these heinous crimes to justice,” Guterres said.
The U.S. State Department removed Nigeria from its list of countries with the most egregious religious freedom violations in November — prompting an outcry among human rights advocates.
For Onaiyekan, the only way to change the situation is with “a government that helps us to rebuild our unity and national coexistence.”
“Of course we also need prayer,” he added.
The cardinal said that he did not view the situation as “a persecution of Christians by Muslims.”
“It is the wickedness of the terrorists who decide to kill people without any justification and it certainly cannot be said that they represent the Islamic religion in Nigeria,” he said.
“I pray for all my Catholic and Christian brethren, and I also pray for all my Muslim fellow citizens who have been in the hands of terrorists for years. The sooner we find a stable country for everyone, the better it will be for us Christians too,” Onaiyekan said.
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Pope Francis greets a crowd of an estimated 25,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for his Regina Caeli address on May 22, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, May 22, 2022 / 07:33 am (CNA).
In his Sunday Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis reflected on Jesus’ words to the disciples at the Last Supper in the Gospel reading from John: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
Speaking to an estimated 25,000 pilgrims gathered on a bright day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the pope noted that Jesus also makes a point to add, “Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27).
“What is this peace that the world does not know and the Lord gives us?” Pope Francis asked.
“This peace is the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit of Jesus. It is the presence of God in us, it is God’s ‘power of peace,'” he explained. “It is He, the Holy Spirit, who disarms the heart and fills it with serenity. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who loosens rigidity and extinguishes the temptations to attack others. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who reminds us that there are brothers and sisters beside us, not obstacles or adversaries.
“It is He, the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength to forgive, to begin again, to set out anew because we cannot do this with our own strength. And it is with Him, with the Holy Spirit, that we become men and women of peace,” Pope Francis said.
“This is the source of the peace Jesus gives us,” he added. “For no one can leave others peace if they do not have it within themselves. No one can give peace unless that person is at peace.”
Pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022. In his Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis spoke about the peace of Christ. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said, “Let us learn to say every day: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’ This is a beautiful prayer. Shall we say it together? ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Again encouraging the crowd to pray with him, he said, “I didn’t hear it well. One more time: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Focusing on the context of Gospel reading, Pope Francis observed that Jesus’ words to his apostles are “a sort of testament.”
The pope said, “Jesus bids farewell with words expressing affection and serenity. But he does so in a moment that is anything but serene,” referring to Judas’ unfolding betrayal and Peter’s imminent denial that he even knows Jesus.
“The Lord knows this, and yet, he does not rebuke, he does not use severe words, he does not give harsh speeches,” Pope Francis said. “Rather than demonstrate agitation, he remains kind till the end.”
He continued, “There is a proverb that says you die the way you have lived. In effect, the last hours of Jesus’ life are like the essence of his entire life. He feels fear and pain, but does not give way to resentment or protesting. He does not allow himself to become bitter, he does not vent, he is not impatient. He is at peace, a peace that comes from his meek heart accustomed to trust.”
In so doing, “Jesus demonstrates that meekness is possible,” the pope observed.
“He incarnated it specifically in the most difficult moment, and he wants us to behave that way too, since we too are heirs of his peace,” he said. “He wants us to be meek, open, available to listen, capable of defusing tensions and weaving harmony. This is witnessing to Jesus and is worth more than a thousand words and many sermons. The witness of peace.”
Pope Francis invited all disciples of Jesus to reflect on whether they behave in this way.
“Do we ease tensions, and defuse conflicts? Are we too at odds with someone, always ready to react, explode, or do we know how to respond nonviolently, do we know how to respond with peaceful actions? How do I react?” he asked.
“Certainly, this meekness is not easy,” while adding ,“How difficult it is, at every level, to defuse conflicts!”
Jesus understands this. He knows “that we need help, that we need a gift,” the pope explained.
“Peace, which is our obligation, is first of all a gift of God.”
Pope Francis said that “no sin, no failure, no grudge should discourage us from insistently asking for this gift from the Holy Spirit who gives us peace.”
“The more we feel our hearts are agitated, the more we sense we are nervous, impatient, angry inside, the more we need to ask the Lord for the Spirit of peace,” he said.
Pilgrims gather at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022, for Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli address. Vatican Media
Pope Francis invited the crowd to pray with him, “Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.” He added, “And let us also ask this for those who live next to us, for those we meet each day, and for the leaders of nations.”
After praying the Regina Caeli at noon, Pope Francis commented on the beatification in Lyon, France, later on Sunday of Pauline Marie Jericot, who founded the Society of the Propagation of the Faith for the support of the missions in the early 19th century. The pope called her “a courageous woman, attentive to the changes taking place at the time, and had a universal vision regarding the Church’s mission.”
Pope Francis continued: “May her example enkindle in everyone the desire to participate through prayer and charity in the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.”
Pope Francis also noted that Sunday marked the beginning of “Laudato Si’ Week,” a weeklong reflection inspired by his 2015 encyclical on the environment. He called the observance an opportunity “to listen ever more attentively to the cry of the Earth which urges us to act together in taking care of our common home.”
Pope Francis also mentioned that May 24 marks the Feast day of Mary Help of Christians, who is “particularly dear to Catholics in China.”
He added that Mary Help of Christians is the patroness for Chinese Catholics and is located in the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai in addition to many churches and homes throughout the country.
“This happy occasion offers me the opportunity to assure them once again of my spiritual closeness” to believers in China, he said.
“I am attentively and actively following the often complex life and situations of the faithful and pastors, and I pray every day for them,” he said.
“I invite all of you to unite yourselves in this prayer so that the Church in China, in freedom and tranquility, might live in effective communion with the universal Church, and might exercise its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to everyone, and thus offer a positive contribution to the spiritual and material progress of society as well.”
Pope Francis also greeted participants in Italy’s annual pro-life demonstration, titled Scegliamo la vita, or in English, “Let’s Choose Life.”
“I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” Pope Francis said.
“Sadly, in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice,” the pope said.
“Let us remember that life is a gift from God! It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience,” he concluded.
Vicki Thorn, who died on April 20, 2022, is remembered as a "fierce advocate" for the unborn and those suffering in the aftermath of an abortion. / Screenshot from Notre Dame YouTube video tribute
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1 Comment
And those Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram who claim ‘credit’ for the constant killings are not Muslim? Or, just those ‘peaceful’ ones?
And those Jihadist Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram who claim ‘credit’ for the constant killings are not Muslim? Or, just those ‘peaceful’ ones?