Africa

Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for the dead after days of heavy rain triggered a landslide in a remote area of Sudan, and he prayed for all involved in the ongoing search and rescue operations.

At least 43 people, including children, were killed July 27 in a brutal overnight attack on a Catholic church in Komanda in eastern Congo.

A Nigerian priest kidnapped by Boko Haram in June has been released, OSV News has learned.

In Nigeria's Edo state, gunmen stormed Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in the Diocese of Auchi the night of July 10, killing a security officer and abducting three seminarians, according to Aid to the Church in Need.

A Nigerian priest who previously served in Alaska remains missing after being captured by Boko Haram operatives in his homeland, OSV News has learned.

More than 500 Christians in Nigeria have been murdered by Fulani militants since the start of April, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) UK’s Head of Press and Public Affairs John Pontifex.

Open Doors Canada is honouring persecuted Christians around the world with its One With Them challenge, a five-day prayer initiative devoted to the faithful suffering for their faith around the world.

After a scene of horror in which around 200 people were “brutally killed” in Yelwata, in Benue state, Nigeria, Pope Leo XIV prayed for the victims, calling it a “terrible massacre.”

In the presence of the mother of the newly beatified martyr, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Blessed Floribert Bwana Chui would intercede to finally bring peace to Congo.

Sub-Saharan Africa has replaced Europe as the locus for the world’s Christians, due to both higher birthrates and Western Europe’s “widespread Christian disaffiliation” — with Christians declining as a share of the world’s population due to adherents leaving the faith, according to new research by the Pew Research Center.