Nigeria Archives

Pope begins answering priests from troubled Nigerian diocese
- Global Church
- July 22, 2017
Last June, Pope Francis threatened the priests of the Ahiara diocese in Nigeria with suspension unless they wrote a letter addressed to him, apologizing for refusing to accept their bishop, appointed by Benedict XVI in 2012. Days after the deadline, letters from Rome responding to each priest individually began to arrive in the diocese.
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By expanding sainthood, Francis reflects new realities of anti-Christian violence
- Analysis
- July 12, 2017
By creating a new pathway to sainthood for the “offer of life,” meaning giving up one’s life for others, Pope Francis in effect has short-circuited a longstanding debate about many victims of contemporary anti-Christian persecution, which is whether their deaths were strictly for religious motives, and thus in keeping with the traditional test for martyrdom of being killed “in odium fidei,” or “hatred of the faith.”
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African calls West’s imposition of abortion ‘cultural supremacy’
- Catholic News Service, Global Church
- July 12, 2017
The British government co-hosted an international Family Planning Summit in London with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.N. Population Fund. The U.K. Department for International Development said the July 11 summit aimed to boost global commitment to “ensuring women and girls have access to family planning services.” Many Africans accuse the conference of behaving like “old colonial masters” by trying to impose abortion on the continent.
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Deadline nears for pope’s ultimatum for Nigeria diocese

There are conflicting reports on how many priests in the Nigerian diocese of Ahiara will comply with the demand by Pope Francis to submit a letter of obedience by Sunday. Many of the priests who are sending letters still insist the clergy of the diocese suffer discrimination by the Church in the country.

Pope’s ultimatum in Nigeria has roots in 2014 letters

Pope Francis’s recent demand for all the priests of a Nigerian diocese to write him pledging loyalty, including accepting the bishop he’s confirmed, may seem to come out of left field, but in fact it builds on a similar request made by the Vatican in 2014 and rejected at the time by the dissident priests.

As clock ticks on pope’s ultimatum, Nigeria diocese is in tumult

Following a dramatic show of papal authority in Nigeria, with Pope Francis demanding that all the priests of a diocese write him a letter pledging their loyalty and promising to accept the bishop the pope has appointed, the matter seems far from resolved. Some priests seem willing to go along, while others are submitting a half-apology, and others are even calling for the pope’s resignation.