Pope lambasts Boko Haram, commends Catholics

The spiritual head of the Catholic Church worldwide, Pope Francis, has lambasted the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram, for its onslaughts against Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.

Last week, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office reported that more than 4,000 people were killed in Boko Haram attacks, and that 900 people were kidnapped in Nigeria last year.

The Pope, in a letter titled, ‘Letter of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Bishops of Nigeria,’ written and posted on the church’s official website on Tuesday, said he was deeply concerned about the tragic happenings, especially in the North-East zone of Nigeria.

He said, "Believers, both Christian and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder."

In spite of the prevailing violent crises in the northern part of the country, the Pope urged catholic priests and missionaries in Nigeria not to give up in tendering to the flock under their care. He also thanked those in the church who had risked their lives to provide both spiritual and material comfort to the victims of the insurgency.

The Pope also prayed for peace to be restored to all parts of the country, urging Nigerians to make efforts “to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue and to serve the weakest and the excluded.”

...Punch