U.S. Ambassador to Vatican: It is ‘intolerable that Christians are being targeted for persecution in Nigeria’

Kudos to Brian Burch for raising the issue of Muslim s murdering Christians for their faith in Nigeria. The Vatican has not prioritized the issue as it should have done. Just days ago, Pope Leo XIV in Cameroon urged “Christians and Muslims to heal wounds of conflict,” but the situation there doesn’t involve Christians wantonly murdering Muslims for being Muslims. It’s Muslims killing Christians, and so it is appalling that the pope put both groups on the same level. It also signifies how flippantly the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is handling the critical issue of Christian persecution. He’s more concerned about support for open-door migration policies that allow free societies to be flooded with illegal migrants, including jihadists and those who harm innocent people.

“US Embassy to the Vatican: Nigerian Christians Are Being Targeted,” by Ishmael Adibuah, National Catholic Register, April 18, 2026:

ROME — It is “intolerable” that Christians are being targeted for persecution in Nigeria, said U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch during an event in Rome on Friday.

The group Solidarity with the Persecuted Church (SPC) and the Embassy of the United States to the Holy See organized the April 17 conference at the embassy on threats to religious freedom in Nigeria.

Burch spoke to EWTN News on the sidelines about the stance of the U.S. on religious violence in Nigeria. He described the current situation as a “conflict between radical Islamic groups and Christians because of their faith.”

“The United States is the greatest friend of religious liberty,” Burch said. “The purpose of this event is to call attention to the plight of Christians who are being targeted and killed in Nigeria. Unfortunately, there are extremist Islamic groups that have been targeting Christians specifically in their churches and their homes, and the scale and size of the persecution of Christians there is intolerable.”

Asked about the denial by some Nigerian government officials that Christians specifically are being targeted, Burch insisted that the current violence against Christians is alarming, citing U.S. President Donald Trump, who designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern in 2025.

“The president has said that Christians face an existential crisis in Nigeria, and thanks to his leadership, he is now acting to bring an end to this. We have called on the Nigerian government to take necessary steps to protect Christians, and the United States government is now working in partnership with the Nigerian government to assist them in doing just that,” he said.

Steven Wagner, president of SPC, underscored the importance of Nigeria for Christianity in Africa and the need for the Holy See to be involved in raising awareness.

“As Nigeria goes, so goes Africa. More Christians are martyred for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country on earth. There is a huge crisis of internally displaced persons. We are calling on the Vatican to increase public awareness of the problem and to continue to encourage the government of Nigeria to make progress in protecting its people,” Wagner said.…

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