(LifeSiteNews) — The board chair of a Nigerian human rights organization, during an interview last week with Crux, slammed Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin for downplaying the role of Islam in the brutal genocide against the country’s Christians and said that he is encouraging further acts of Islamic terrorism against the faithful.
During the interview, which was published on November 27, Emeka Umeagbalasi, the board chair of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) emphasized that Parolin’s comments diminishing the role of Islam in the genocide of Nigerian Christians provides diplomatic cover for Islamic terrorists, weakens the Church’s moral standing, and ultimately emboldens Islamic terrorists to continue committing genocide.
Parolin came under fire in October for downplaying the influence that Islam has played in the persecution, framing the violence against Nigerian Christians as a “social conflict,” not a “religious one,” during a Vatican event that focused on the recently published 2025 Religious Freedom Report by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
READ: Cardinal Parolin slammed for downplaying Muslim terrorist attacks against Nigerian Christians
The ACN surveyed 196 countries for its report and found that just under two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries with “serious or very serious violations of religious freedom.”
Twenty-four countries, including Nigeria, were placed in the “worst” category in the report: persecution. The report notes that “organized crime is a key driver of persecution or discrimination” in Nigeria. It also found that persecution in Nigeria “results from a combination of authoritarian governance and religious extremism.”
“When the Vatican Secretary of State frames the crisis as a ‘social conflict’ rather than religious persecution, it demoralizes Catholic faithful and other Christians worldwide who look to the Church for leadership and support,” Umeagbalasi told Crux. “This diplomatic framing undermines the gravity of the situation and provides cover for those perpetrating the violence.”
Umeagbalasi underscored that Parolin’s comments diluting Christian persecution not only weaken its historical moral authority but also embolden Islamists to continue these vicious attacks.
“The Catholic Church has historically been a beacon of hope and moral authority. When its representatives appear to contradict or dilute clear statements about persecution, it weakens the Church’s moral standing and emboldens those who would continue the violence,” he said.
“By minimizing the religious nature of the conflict, the Secretary of State’s position contradicts not only the pope’s statements but also Nigeria’s own constitutional and international obligations to protect religious freedom,” he added.
To Parolin’s point that Muslims are also killed by extremists in Nigeria, Umeagbalasi stressed that Nigerian Christians are far more likely to face violent persecution than their Islamic fellow citizens, who he noted are typically killed by other Muslims, not “Christian jihadists.”
“While it’s true that Muslims are also killed in Nigeria, this doesn’t negate the targeted nature of Christian persecution,” he said. “Statistics show that for every ten people killed for religious reasons in Nigeria, approximately seven are Christians and three are Muslims. Muslims are typically killed by other Muslims in states with overwhelming Muslim populations like Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kastina—not by Christian jihadists.”
As previously reported by LifeSite, Christians in Nigeria have faced sporadic persecution since the 1950s, but since 2000 have seen wave after wave of violence that has steadily become a genocide. Persecution of Christians in Nigeria began to spike after 1999, when 12 northern states adopted Sharia law. The rise of the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2009 marked a dramatic escalation in attacks. Famously, the group kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in 2014; 87 of them are still listed as “missing.”
READ: Slaughter of Christians in Nigeria shows what happens when governments turn a blind eye
Recent attacks in Nigeria have included the abduction and even murder of Catholic priests and seminarians. In a July press release, the Diocese of Auchi in Edo State reported that several gunmen attacked the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary, killing one security guard and kidnapping three seminarians.
In August, Islamic militants attacked a Christian village, killing three and injuring several more, just two months after Islamists massacred over 200 people in the same area. The assault targeted a community that was nearly 100 percent Christian and consisted mostly of subsistence farmers.
READ: Muslim militants attack Nigerian Christian village just two months after killing 200
Findings published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlight many of the state-sponsored attacks on Christians in the country. In its 2025 report, the USCIRF urged the U.S. government to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.” It also noted that “the Nigerian government remains slow or, at times, appears unwilling to respond to this violence, creating an environment of impunity for the attackers.”
Earlier in the interview, Umeagbalasi noted that Parolin’s remarks are also problematic because they mirror the Nigerian government’s narrative, which has long denied that its Christian population is being targeted specifically for their faith.
“(T)he Secretary of State’s position is problematic because it mirrors the Nigerian government’s narrative,” he said. “It’s concerning that he would involve himself in discussions about the situation in Nigeria, potentially aligning with what appears to be a defensive narrative promoted by the Nigerian federal government.”
Parolin’s comments had previously received similar pushback from several notable Catholic figures.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who had served as apostolic nuncio to Nigeria from 1992 until 1998, denounced Parolin’s remarks as yet another sign of the hierarchy betraying faithful Catholics.
“The shameful words of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on the alleged ‘social conflict’ in Nigeria misrepresent the reality of a ferocious and genocidal persecution against Catholics, martyred while Rome rambles on about synodality and inclusiveness,” His Excellency remarked.
Archbishop Viganò continued:
“No, Your Eminence: Nigerian Catholics are being killed in hatred of the Faith they profess, by Muslims and in obedience to the Koran. Those same Muslims who are transforming your churches into mosques, with your cowardly and courtesan complicity, and who will soon overthrow governments to impose Sharia law on the ‘infidels.’”
I am well aware of and carry in my heart every day the suffering and persecution of Nigerian Catholics, having lived in Nigeria for six years, from 1992 to 1998, as Apostolic Nuncio.
The shameful words of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on the alleged “social… pic.twitter.com/R49xkcuKSc
— Arcivescovo Carlo Maria Viganò (@CarloMVigano) October 22, 2025
