Persecution of the Catholic Church has persisted for more than 2,000 years. In 2025, several sites remained hot spots for anti-Catholic and anti-Christian activity, including Ukraine, Gaza, and India. In Africa, no place highlighted the persecution of Christians more than Nigeria.
Earlier in June, about 200 Christians were killed in this year’s worst massacre so far. The incident took place in Benue state in north-central Nigeria, a flashpoint for friction between Muslims and Christians.
Nigeria is West Africa’s most populous country and the world’s seventh-largest nation. Officially, the country has no state religion, and its constitution does not permit the federal or state governments to establish one. The country’s north is predominantly Muslim, with its south primarily Christian. Nigeria shares St. Patrick with Ireland and the Archdiocese of New York as its patron saint. It also has the largest Muslim population in Africa.
Going beyond food and water
Bartosz Rutkowski found his way to Nigeria from Poland via Syria and Iraq. Formerly the chief training officer at the Deep Diving Training Center of the Polish Armed Forces, Rutkowski was preparing to start work one day in October 2015 when he was stopped in his tracks.
“I read on one of Poland’s biggest news sites that a 12-year-old boy had been crucified near Aleppo, Syria. I have two sons. My older son, Anthony, was 12 at the time, the same age as the murdered boy. I just stood up from my desk, went to the middle of my room, and asked myself if I could do anything — literally anything — to prevent a story like this from repeating itself for even one child,” he told The Good Newsroom during a Zoom interview.
Rutkowski went on to found the Eaglewatch Foundation (Orla Strasz in Polish), which goes beyond the distribution of essentials such as food and water, seeking to restore persecuted communities and provide them with the security to remain in their homes. After serving Christian victims of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria and Iraq, he wanted to expand Eaglewatch’s work to Nigeria, increasingly a place where Christians are targeted or killed for their faith.
Eaglewatch, which maintains a presence in New York, seeks to provide a nuanced approach to economic recovery and development. He used the example of a widow with numerous children and pointed out that transportation remains a significant problem in rural Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, driving motorcycles or tuk-tuks is very popular. We buy a new tuk-tuk, which costs about $1,300, for a widow who cannot work. Then we find another family with a teenage son who has a driver’s license for motorcycles. The widow rents this tuk-tuk to the family with the boy who can drive it. He pays part of his income as rent. With one tuk-tuk, you’re solving problems for two families at once,” he said.
Rutkowski, who is Roman Catholic, cautioned against giving “empty money.”
“We can help them without a lot of money, supporting law enforcement on the ground and helping people defend their houses and get their lives back — rebuilding houses, rebuilding jobs, rebuilding farms, teaching them how to earn for themselves.”
The Church is growing in Africa, but so is the threat
Perhaps because of the Church’s continuing growth in Africa, it will continue to be a place where Christians and people of other faiths come into conflict. Brooklyn-based Aid to the Church in Need, which describes its work as “Meeting the pastoral needs of the suffering and persecuted Church around the world since 1947” on its website, noted that in 2024, Africa was “once again the continent with the highest number of murdered priests and church workers worldwide.”
Kidnappings have also soared, with clergy and religious not unscathed, with Nigeria reporting more than 11 abducted priests in 2024, the organization said.
The ominous trend continues unabated, as Father Alphonsus Afina — who had previously served throughout Alaska — was kidnapped June 1 in northeastern Nigeria, having returned to his homeland in 2024 to minister.
Yet, Aid to the Church in Need told OSV News, “despite all the dangers and crises, Africa remains a continent of hope for the Catholic Church,” since “the number of believers is growing.”
The Pew Research Center observed in its global survey of the religious landscape from 2010 to 2020, released June 9, that sub-Saharan Africa has replaced Europe as the locus for the world’s Christians. The shift, which has seen 62% of that region’s population identify as Christian, is due to both higher birth rates and Western Europe’s “widespread Christian disaffiliation.”
Aid to the Church in Need pointed to high numbers of priestly and religious vocations on the continent as another sign of hope, with the church remaining “a steadfast source of support, standing by the people in times of hunger, violence, and political instability, and offering aid and comfort where governments fall short.”
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OSV News’ multimedia reporter Gina Christian contributed to this story.