More than 300 students, staff abducted from Catholic school in Nigeria last week

[Stone]

More than 300 students, staff abducted from Catholic school in Nigeria last week
Initial estimates were that 52 children were abducted from St. Mary's Catholic boarding school, but recent reports indicate that it was 315 students and 12 teachers.



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Nov 24, 2025
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — Attacks on Christians in Nigeria have reached new heights after more than 300 students and staff at a Catholic school in Papiri were abducted last week.

“I make a heartfelt appeal that the hostages be immediately released, and I urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their liberation,” Pope Leo said after Sunday Mass this weekend in St. Peter’s Square.

On Friday, gunmen forcibly took some 315 students and 12 of their teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic boarding school in Niger State, making it one of the worst kidnappings the country has ever seen. Initial estimates were that 52 children were taken.

“The gunmen were on about 50 motorcycle bikes while controlling them,” one of the children’s fathers told the BBC. “Some children were falling and the men would kick them and instruct them to stand up.”

Prayers seem to have been answered as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has reported that 50 students have been returned to their families.

“The pupils escaped between Friday and Saturday and have reunited with their parents as they could not return to the school after they escaped,” a spokesman for CAN’s Niger State chapter said.

Niger State promptly closed all schools after the abduction.

The Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles operate St. Mary’s. The group’s leader, Sr. Mary Barron, asked for “prayers and spiritual solidarity” in an appeal following news of the kidnapping.

“We believe deeply in the power of unified prayer. We need as many people as possible to lift this community before God during this moment of suffering and uncertainty. May God, in God’s infinite mercy, protect the innocent, guide leaders to act with justice, and bring all those taken back home safely,” she said.

READ: Trump’s UN ambassador calls persecution of Nigerian Christians a ‘genocide’

Friday’s attack is the third major incident reported in recent weeks. Last Wednesday, gunmen killed at least two people and kidnapped several more in an attack on a church in Eruku, a town in the central Kwara State. Also last week attackers abducted 25 girls from a predominantly Muslim boarding school.

On Tuesday, November 18, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz described the ongoing slaughter of Christians in the country as a “genocide wearing the mask of chaos.”

Waltz made his remarks during an event hosted by the United States Mission to the United Nations. Following Waltz’s address, best-selling rapper Nicki Minaj took to the podium to express her own concerns. She previously praised President Donald Trump’s social media posts condemning the killings.

Trump previously announced that he is preparing the U.S. military to potentially “wipe out” Islamic terrorists who are killing and kidnapping Christians in the country.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has canceled foreign trips to South Africa and Angola, where he was scheduled to attend an African Union-European Union summit and a G20 summit. Tinubu has sent a delegation of government officials led by Nigeria’s national security advisor to the U.S. to meet with American government officials about the situation.

Findings published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlight many of the state-sponsored attacks on Christians in the country. In its 2025 report, the USCIRF urged the U.S. government to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.” It also noted that “the Nigerian government remains slow or, at times, appears unwilling to respond to this violence, creating an environment of impunity for the attackers.”

Shockingly, during a keynote address for an event held at the Vatican last month, the current Secretary of State Pietro Parolin diminished the influence that Islam has played in the attacks.

The violence is “not a religious conflict, but rather more a social one, for example, disputes between herders and farmers. We should also recognize that many Muslims in Nigeria are themselves victims of this same intolerance,” he claimed.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria from 1992 until 1998, denounced Parolin’s remarks.

“The shameful words of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on the alleged ‘social conflict’ in Nigeria misrepresent the reality of a ferocious and genocidal persecution against Catholics, martyred while Rome rambles on about synodality and inclusiveness,” His Excellency remarked.