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Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Michael Francis Crotty as apostolic nuncio to Nigeria, the Holy See Press Office reported on July 16, 2024. The Irish prelate was previously the Holy See's representative in Burkina Faso and Niger.
Born in 1970 in Mallow, Ireland, Michael Francis Crotty was ordained a priest in 1994 before being sent to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the "school for nuncios," to embark on a career as a diplomat in the service of the Holy See.
Diplomatic experience
With a doctorate in Church history, he left in 2004 for Canada as secretary to the nunciature. He then went to Iraq and Jordan, returning to Rome to serve in the Secretariat of State's Section for Relations with States, before being assigned to Spain.
In 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Burkina Faso and Niger, two West African countries plagued by high levels of insecurity. He was ordained bishop by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.
With his new mission in Nigeria, the Irish diplomat will be operating in Africa's most populous country (236 million inhabitants according to the CIA's The World Factbook). Just over half the population is Muslim, and just 10% Catholic. Other Christian denominations make up 35% of the Nigerian population.
The leading country in terms of violence against Christians
Nigeria often comes up in the prayers of the Argentine pope, due to the extreme insecurity that prevails there. Last February, for example, the head of the Catholic Church denounced the "increasingly frequent" kidnappings and asked for prayers to halt the spread of this deadly phenomenon. Since May 2023, more than 4,000 kidnappings are said to have taken place in the country, Vatican News reported last month, when a Catholic priest from Kaduna state in the country's northwest had just been kidnapped. (He was released after two days in captivity.)
In its 2024 report on the persecution of Christians worldwide, the NGO Open Doors concluded that Nigeria was the leading country in terms of violence against Christians: "Nigeria accounted for nine out of 10 religiously-motivated murders.”
It offers more details:
More believers are killed for their faith in Nigeria each year, than everywhere else in the world combined. The attacks are often brutal in nature and can involve destruction of properties, abductions for ransom, sexual violence and death. Believers are stripped of their livelihoods and driven from their homes, leaving a trail of grief and trauma.
Violence by Islamic extremist groups such as Fulani militants, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State in West African Province) increased during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, putting Nigeria at the epicenter of targeted violence against the church.
The shocking numbers are even more astonishing when another statistic is added in:
When asked the question “Apart from weddings, funerals and christenings, about how often do you attend religious services these days?” 94% of self-identified Nigerian Catholics surveyed said they attend weekly or daily Mass.
The scourge of tribalism also affects Catholics
In some regions of Nigeria, ethnic disparities are causing great tension within the Catholic community. The case of the now Cardinal Peter Okpaleke has shed particular light on the phenomenon of tribalism, regularly denounced by the Pope.
Appointed Bishop of Ahiara in 2012 by Benedict XVI, Peter Okpaleke was immediately rejected by the people of his diocese because he didn’t belong to the same ethnic group. Despite Rome's efforts, he was forced to resign his position in 2018.
Two years later, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of a diocese created for him. The Pontiff then created him a cardinal in 2022, a strong gesture of support and rejection of tribalism.
