Catholic Church in Nigeria

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Catholic Church in Nigeria
Type National polity
Classification Catholic
Governance Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria
Pope Leo XIV
President Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji
Region Nigeria
Language English, Latin
Members35.0 million (2024) [1]

The Catholic Church in Nigeria is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).

Contents

As of 2025, the president of the CBCN is Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese. [2] He followed on from the previous president, Augustine Obiora Akubeze. [3] [4]

Overview

The Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches comprise the world's largest Christian Church and the largest religious grouping globally. In 2005, there were an estimated 19 million baptised Catholics in Nigeria. [5] In 2010, the Catholic population accounted for approximately 12.6% of the population, [6] 70% of which can be found in Southeast Nigeria.[ citation needed ]

Historically, the Holy Ghost Fathers maintained a strong presence in Igboland in today's South-eastern Nigeria, whereas the White Fathers operated in Western and Northern Nigeria, and the Society of African Missions in Lagos. [7]

Nigeria, together with the Congo-Kinshasa, boasts of the highest number of priests in Africa. The boom in vocation to the priesthood in Nigeria is mainly in the South-eastern part, especially among the Igbo ethnic group, of which the first evangelizers were Holy Ghost Fathers. [7]

The second papal visit to the country in 1998 witnessed the beatification of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. [8] Pope John Paul II proclaimed him blessed at Oba, Onitsha Archdiocese, a local Church established by the apostle of eastern Nigerian, Bishop Joseph Shanahan, CSSp.

The official patron saints of Nigeria are Mary, Queen of Nigeria, and Patrick of Ireland. [9]

Map of Nigeria Nigeria sm02.gif
Map of Nigeria

Demographics

Christianity was followed by an estimated 46.18% of the Nigerian population in 2020; one-quarter of Christians in Nigeria are Catholic (12.39% of the country's population). [10]

In the same year, over 9,500 priests and 6,500 nuns served over 4,000 parishes. [11]

List of dioceses

Archdioceses9
Suffragan Dioceses59
Apostolic Vicariates2
Parishes1,905 (2004)
Diocesan Priests3,452
Religious Priests694
♦Total Priests4,146 (2004)
Religious Women3,674
Major seminaries in Nigeria6
Major seminarians
Minor seminaries in Nigeria20
Minor seminarians
♦Total seminarians3,755 (2004)
Educational institutes4,163
Charitable institutes1,202
ReferencesItalian page for 2004 [12]

Within Nigeria the hierarchy consists of:

Immediately subject to the Holy See:

Episcopal conference

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria is the Nigerian episcopal conference. Its current President is Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji.

Catholic traditionalism

A more traditionalist subset of the Catholic Church is also present in Nigeria and embodied by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (Nne Enyemaka Shrine, [13] Umuaka). There also exists a community of the irregular status Society of St. Pius X (Saint Michael's Priory, [14] [15] Enugu).

Catholic universities in Nigeria

Major seminaries in Nigeria

Minor seminaries in Nigeria

Nigerians who have been canonized or beatified

Catholic religious congregations founded in Nigeria

Missionary societies active in Nigeria

Persecution

Catholic Church in Nigeria faces severe persecution. [22] According to the CBCN, at least 145 priests have been kidnapped, 11 have been murdered, and four remain missing between 2015 and 2025. [22] Report by the NGO International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) stated that at least 15 priests were kidnapped between January and August 2025 by Fulani, Boko Haram and other forces. [23] The phenomenon, according to the report, [23] is due to a combination of attacks by jihadist groups and organized criminal gangs operating for profit, with priests being victims of both violent ambushes and financial extortion. [22]

In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency aims to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. [24] University of Johannesburg law professor Werner Nicolaas Nel has noted that this has resulted in the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. [25] There has been a tendency of "mischaracterisation of the situation as civil conflict". [25] The number of Nigerian Christians killed for their identification as Christians accounts for 70% of those being killed for their faith worldwide. [26] The academic Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development published a paper in 2020 that noted that since 2015, over 12,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria. [27] Christian human rights organisations, such as Global Christian Relief have provided higher figures, such as documenting in 2023 that 52,250 Christians were murdered for their faith in the previous fourteen years. [28] In 2025, this garnered international attention with United States president Donald Trump vowing military action in Nigeria if the attacks against Christians did not subside; on Christmas Day 2025, the United States targeted ISIS cells in Nigeria. [29] [30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Table: Christian Population in Numbers by Country | Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project". Features.pewforum.org. 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Association of Catholic Information in Africa website, article dated 3/9/22
  3. ↑ "Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN)". www.cbcn-ng.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  4. ↑ Olowolagba, Fikayo (22 February 2018). "Catholic bishops elect new president". Daily Post Nigeria. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Craig Timberg, "Nigeria's Spiritual Rainmaker is Eyed at Vatican," Washington Poet, 17 April 2005, A1
  6. ↑ Pew Research Center: Christian Population as Percentages of total population by country 2010 https://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-total-population-by-country/
  7. 1 2 Ebuziem, Cajetan E. (2011). Doing Ministry in the Igbo Context: Towards an Emerging Model and Method for the Church in Africa. Peter Lang. p. 8. ISBN   978-1-4331-1154-9.
  8. ↑ "Blessed Iwene Tansi: The patron saint of Nigeria's democracy @20". TheCable. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "Patron Saints: N - Saints & Angels". Catholic Online. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  10. ↑ World Religions Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-08
  11. ↑ Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
  12. ↑ Italian WikiPage Chiesa Cattolica in Nigeria statistics from 2004 it:Chiesa cattolica in Nigeria
  13. ↑ "FSSP in Nigeria". www.fsspnigeria.org. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  14. ↑ "District of Great Britain". District of Great Britain. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  15. ↑ "First priory in Nigeria opened". Archived from the original on 16 April 2013.
  16. ↑ "Veritas University Abuja". www.veritas.edu.ng. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Welcome to Pan-Atlantic University" . Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  18. ↑ "DON BOSCO INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY, IBADAN - Lumen et Sapientia" . Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  19. ↑ "Welcome". Dominican Institute. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  20. ↑ "CHRISTIAN MOTIVATION FOR DIALOGUE WITH FOLLOWERS OF THE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION". afrikaworld.net. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  21. ↑ "Daughters of Divine Love (DDL) website". Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  22. 1 2 3 Cardiel, Victoria (26 September 2025). "Christian persecution in Nigeria: 1,200 churches destroyed annually, hundreds killed". catholicnewsagency.com. Catholic News Agency (CNA).
  23. 1 2 "Table Of Collected Statistics On Fulani Herdsmen, Fulani Bandits, Boko Haram And Others' Jihadist Terror Attacks Including Killings, Abductions, Burning Of Churches And Invasion Of Indigenous Christian Lands Across Nigeria From January-August 2025" (PDF). intersociety-ng.org. International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety). 9 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group?". BBC News. 24 November 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  25. 1 2 Nel, Werner Nicolaas (29 December 2020). Grievous Religious Persecution: A Conceptualisation of Crimes Against Humanity of Religious Persecution. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 33. ISBN   978-1-7252-9514-8.
  26. ↑ Ukeachusim, Chidinma P. (13 June 2022). "Exegetical study of John 16:25–33 and the Church in persecution in Nigeria". HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies. 78 (4). doi:10.4102/hts.v78i4.7366. Currently, there is a high rate of persecution unleashed on Christians worldwide with a special reference to Nigeria. Globally, Nigeria accounts for more than 70% of Christians being killed because of their identification with the Christian faith. This makes Nigeria one of the most dangerous countries for Christians.
  27. ↑ Umeanwe, Christian Maduabuchi (2020). "Incessant Killings Of Christians By Islamic Sects: A Threat To Peace In Nigeria". Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development. 3 (5). doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.13367.34720.
  28. ↑ "Nigeria". Global Christian Relief. 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2025. According to an April 2023 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, at least 52,250 persecuted Christians have been killed in the past fourteen years, simply for the crime of being Christian.
  29. ↑ O'Connor, Tom (6 November 2025). "Trump's military threats spark "fear and hope" for Nigeria's Christians". Newsweek .
  30. ↑ Wehner, Greg (25 December 2025). "Trump launches Christmas night airstrikes on ISIS 'Terrorist Scum' in Nigeria after killings of Christians". Fox News.

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