A grievous act of desecration has shaken the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, igniting sorrow and spiritual alarm among the faithful. On May 4, 2025, unknown individuals broke into the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Unguwar Rimi, Bajju, forcibly opened the tabernacle, and stole the consecrated Eucharistic hosts, a crime that Church leaders have identified as “a most grievous sacrilege.”
The Vicar General for Pastoral Affairs, Father Jacob Shanet, expressed the diocese’s anguish in a letter dated May 12. “With deep sorrow and pastoral concern, we write to inform you of a most grievous sacrilege committed against the Most Holy Eucharist,” the statement read. Shanet underscored the theological and canonical weight of the violation, calling it “Sacrilegium, which is the profanation of what is consecrated to God.”
Drawing upon the authority of the Church’s legal code, he pointed to Canon 1367 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which states: “A person who throws away the consecrated species or takes or retains them for sacrilegious purpose incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.”
This shocking desecration comes amid a climate of religious hostility in Nigeria, particularly targeting Christian communities in the northern regions. For the Diocese of Kafanchan, this is not an isolated incident. It is the latest blow in a long series of assaults on churches, priests, and the faithful.
Just months earlier, on March 4, Father Sylvester Okechukwu was abducted from his residence at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Tachira. His body was discovered the next morning, Ash Wednesday. The diocese also mourned the horrific death of Seminarian Na’Aman Danlami Stephen, who was burned alive when armed militants attacked the rectory of St. Raphael Church in Fadan Kamantan on September 7, 2023.
Amid these occurrences, Bishop Julius Yakubu Kundi has called for a solemn response. All priests within the diocese have been instructed to celebrate a Mass of Reparation on Friday, May 16, “with the intention of making amends for this sacrilege and imploring the mercy of God upon those responsible.” The bishop further encouraged all parishes, religious communities, and lay faithful to engage in spiritual acts of reparation throughout the week. These should include “Eucharistic Adoration, with particular attention to silence and reverence, the Rosary, invoking Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patroness of the parish affected, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, offered for the conversion of those who committed this offense, and public and private prayers for the safe and reverent return of the Sacred Species.”
“Such a wound to the Mystical Body of Christ calls for a united response of reparation and fervent intercession,” Fr. Shanet emphasized.
This latest sacrilegious act, while deeply painful, is but a symptom of a much larger and ongoing crisis facing Christians in Nigeria. The region has been engulfed by extremist violence since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its campaign of terror to establish a caliphate across the Sahel. The group has since been joined by other Islamist factions, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Fulani militant groups, all contributing to the systematic persecution of Christians.
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Director of the Catholic founded human rights organization Intersociety, recently reported that these attacks, compounded by what many view as the Nigerian government’s persistent inaction, have drastically hindered the growth of Christianity in Nigeria by an estimated 30 percent. According to their findings, some 19,000 churches and 4,000 Christian schools have been destroyed or shut down. Roughly 40 million Christians in northern Nigeria have been displaced or have fled from their ancestral homes under threat of violence.
Intersociety also estimates that 20,000 square miles of land and hundreds of thousands of hectares belonging to indigenous Christian populations have been seized and renamed by hostile forces. Nearly 1,000 Christian villages and towns have been erased, and tens of thousands of believers have been killed, abducted, or disappeared, many tortured before their deaths.
“Had these grave atrocities been prevented, Catholicism and the broader defense of the Christian faith in Nigeria would have grown by at least 30 percent, strengthening religious freedom and deepening the faith of millions,” said Umeagbalasi in an interview with Crux.
Despite the agony and loss, Church leaders in Kafanchan remain steadfast in their spiritual mission. “Let this grave offense awaken in us a renewed reverence for the Holy Eucharist, which the Second Vatican Council described as the source and summit of the Christian life,” Shanet concluded.
