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Nigerian clergy mostly welcome Christmas Day attacks on Islamic State groups
People read newspapers reporting on U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Nigeria in Lagos, Nigeria, Dec. 26, 2025.
OSV News photo/Sodiq Adelakun, Reuters
December 27, 2025
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OSV News photo/David Snyder, Catholic Relief Services
Nigerian Catholic priest Fr. Oliver Ortese characterized the U.S. military airstrikes on Islamic State terrorist targets in Sokoto state on Christmas Day as “Christians being freed from bondage.”
Exact casualty figures from the nighttime assault have yet to be released. Still, the American and Nigerian governments have confirmed the termination of militants, and both have stated that further strikes are a possibility.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared in a Truth Social post that this operation represents a follow-through of his Nov. 1 pledge of lethal action for terrorists “if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians.”
Conversely, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar said the strikes were a “joint operation” that “has nothing to do with religion.”
Ortese, who shepherds St. Francis Xavier Church in Agagbe, a community in Benue State, told The Catholic Register that “Trump became the answer to the prayers of Christians in Nigeria” when he first declared and signalled the possibility of U.S. intervention on Oct. 31.
The rampant murdering and displacement of Christians in Nigeria had become so pronounced in recent years that the Christian advocacy organization Open Doors declared the West African nation as “the most violent country in the world to follow Jesus.”
According to the Nigerian-based International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria during the first 220 days of 2025 – an average of 32 fatalities a day. Boko Haram and the Fulani militants are among the chief perpetrators of the carnage.
Earlier this month, The Register spoke to Fr. Gordian Okpuruka, the pastor of St. John Brebeuf Church in Erin, Ont., who hails from Nigeria. While uncertain if a U.S. military response would be the right course of action, it was clear to him that “the (Nigerian) government is overwhelmed” and “they need external help.”
Though the Nigerian government downplayed the significance of the joint strikes occurring on Christmas, nevertheless a striking contrast with Holy Week was spawned.
Leading up to Easter, there were more than 240 Christians slaughtered in attacks on villages in Plateau and Benue states. The days before Christmas, on the other hand, saw the return of all 130 kidnapped Catholic schoolchildren and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri State. However, Ortese and his brother priests in the Makurdi diocese proceeded with caution. They were advised to hold Christmas liturgical celebrations in the daytime hours.
Responding to the recent developments, Ortese expressed gratitude “for the Christians around the world for their prayers and support” as public awareness about the plight of Nigerian followers of Christ has significantly increased in recent months.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
A version of this story appeared in the January 11, 2026, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "U.S. strikes free Christians from bondage".
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