According to the Catholic News Agency, the papal aid agency “Aid to the Church in Need” warned on Monday of the increase in Islamist attacks on Catholic institutions in West Africa with the aim of establishing a “transnational caliphate”.
According to the Catholic News Agency, the international papal aid agency “Aid to the Church in Need” warns of the increase in Islamic-motivated violence in West Africa, especially in Benin. Project partners of the papal aid organization “Kirche in Not” reported increasing attacks in North Africa, “Kirche in Not” announced on Monday in Munich. The area of the diocese of Natitingou is very affected. Attacks began in late 2021 and intensified last year.
closed monastery
This restricts pastoral work: a Benedictine convent in Natintigou closed for fear of kidnapping. The nuns are now in the interior of Benin.
“Aid to the Church in Need” is concerned that jihadist terror is spreading across West Africa. “So far, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria have been most affected in the region, but extremists are increasingly targeting neighboring countries.” The attacks aim to establish a transnational caliphate from the Sahel to the Middle East and southern Philippines.
kidnappings are the order of the day
“All residents of the respective states who do not share the extremists’ worldview are affected – Christians, however, often to a particularly high degree, because they are particularly hated because of their values and way of life,” he said. the aid organization said. In the affected countries, kidnappings of priests and religious are the order of the day. According to Aid to the Church in Need, about 45% of Benin’s population is Christian; the number of Catholics is about 25 percent.