According to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), at least 12 priests and 5 nuns were killed in 2022. The foundation has also documented more than 40 kidnappings and currently has 5 priests listed as missing, reports the European Conservative.
Nigeria had the most victims last year, where 4 priests were murdered and 29 were kidnapped, three of them in the week before Christmas.
The persecution also intensified in Nicaragua, under Daniel Ortega, 11 church members were arrested; two seminarians, a deacon, a bishop and seven priests. Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Alvarez is currently under house arrest awaiting trial.
A bishop and two priests are also being held in Eritrea, with no indication of when charges will be brought.
ACN also claims that several members of the underground priest movement in China were arrested simply because they did not join the official state church, and that at least ten priests disappeared between January and May 2022.
Priests were also arrested in Ukraine for their perceived or real "partisan" stance, but the same thing happened in Ethiopia, in connection with the Tigray conflict, and in Myanmar as well.
Featured image source: karizmatikus.hu
