Religious Freedom

A month after the abduction of American pilot Kevin Rideout in Niger’s capital, Niamey, church and missionary sources in the West African country say the silence surrounding his disappearance is disturbing.

An unspecified number of students and teachers have been kidnapped from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, adding to a growing number of attacks on Christians in the West African nation.

As night falls across continents on Nov. 19, more than 600 churches and landmarks will light up in red, reminding the world that Christian persecution remains a stark global reality.

As reports spread that U.S. President Donald Trump appealed directly to China’s Xi Jinping to free jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai when they met in South Korea Oct. 30, American theologian George Weigel told OSV News that Lai “is a non-violent, deeply committed defender of not simply his rights to free speech, but to those of the people of Hong Kong” and that his “witness to human dignity and to basic human rights is an expression of his Catholic faith.”

Faith is a matter of life and death in northern Nigeria, said Bishop John Bogna Bakeni of Maiduguri.