Abuja Archbishop Kaigama calls for urgent renewal of clerical culture amid abuse crisis, urges introspection and lay solidarity at Enugu Synod.
Newsroom (20/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Abuja has urged a profound overhaul of the “clerical culture” within the Catholic Church, warning that the global crisis of clerical sexual abuse has severely eroded public trust and demands urgent internal reform.
Speaking Tuesday at the fourth Diocesan Synod of Enugu, the Nigerian prelate described the abuse scandal as a wound to the Church’s credibility and a crisis rooted in personal fidelity to Christ rather than mere procedural failures.
“The clerical culture in which bishops and priests live in many ways requires serious renewal,” Archbishop Kaigama told synod participants on the third day of the week-long gathering, which runs through November 22.
He called for “critical self-analysis, examination, and introspection” among clergy, insisting the Church must “look inward” to address what he termed a crisis of “not following Jesus Christ and not living the way he teaches us to live.”
While acknowledging that “the Church has never been perfect,” the archbishop lamented the blanket condemnation now faced by thousands of priests and bishops worldwide.
“We have over 400,000 Catholic priests and more than 5,000 bishops doing a lot of good work in very self-sacrificing ways,” he said. “Yet one act of weakness by a priest dominates headlines, while the quiet service of the vast majority evaporates in public judgment.”
Archbishop Kaigama criticized media and social-media amplification of clerical scandals, noting that “some outlets survive by identifying and magnifying” such stories and that content creators often traffic in “unfair and untruthful generalization” to ridicule consecrated life.
He warned fellow church leaders against complacency, stating that any bishop or pastor failing to prepare their diocese or parish for scrutiny is guilty of “managerial malfeasance.”
The archbishop, who has served as a bishop since 1995 and led Abuja Archdiocese since 2019, also highlighted lay concerns beyond sexual abuse—citing reports of avarice, arbitrariness, materialism, ethnic favoritism, and parish polarization.
“Nobody in their right mind believes anymore that scandals are just lies told to discredit the Church,” he said. “Sometimes those stories are true.”
Despite the pain, Archbishop Kaigama framed the crisis as divine pruning: “It is a needed cleansing, a season of purification, and an invitation to grow to a new maturity.”
He urged priests not to grow discouraged and asked the laity for prayer and spiritual solidarity rather than adversarial criticism.
“There is a war going on inside the priest that you don’t know of,” he told lay Catholics. “Support them. Pray for them. See them as brothers. Criticism without love destroys the synodal Church we all desire.”
The Abuja ordinary concluded by stressing co-responsibility among clergy, religious, and laity, insisting the path forward lies in mutual accountability and shared mission rather than division.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Africa
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