Cardinal Parolin’s claim that Nigeria’s violence is social, not religious, sparks outrage. Critics cite Christian persecution by Fulani militants
Newsroom (23/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, ignited controversy Tuesday by describing Nigeria’s decades-long violence, which has disproportionately targeted Christians, as a “social conflict” rather than a religious one. The remarks, made during a press conference for the release of Aid to the Church in Need’s (ACN) report on religious freedom, have drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates and Nigerian Catholic leaders who argue the violence is rooted in religious persecution.
Parolin’s comments, first reported by Vatican News, came in response to a reporter’s question about the violence in Nigeria, where extremist groups, including militant Fulani herdsmen, have killed thousands in recent years. “I think they’ve already said, and some Nigerians have already said, that it’s not a religious conflict, but rather a social conflict, for example, between herders and farmers,” Parolin said, according to a recording obtained by the National Catholic Register. He added, “Many Muslims who come to Nigeria are victims of this intolerance. So, these extremist groups… use violence against anyone they perceive as an opponent.”
The cardinal’s characterization has intensified debate over the nature of Nigeria’s violence, which has claimed 30,880 civilian lives between 2019 and 2023, according to a report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA). Of those, 16,769 were Christian, compared to 6,235 Muslims. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is roughly 53% Muslim and 46% Christian, with a predominantly Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. The violence, concentrated in the “Middle Belt” region, has seen militant Fulani bandits—members of a semi-nomadic herding community—target Christian farmers, burning homes, seizing land, and kidnapping or killing 145 Catholic priests over the past decade, per ACN data.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 report highlights the role of approximately 30,000 Fulani bandits in northwest Nigeria, where large-scale massacres have displaced Christian communities. On Oct. 15, leaders of Christian and humanitarian groups urged President Donald Trump in a letter to redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, citing the Nigerian government’s failure to protect victims or prosecute perpetrators. “The last several years have seen a burgeoning of violent attacks specifically targeting rural Christians in the country’s Middle Belt, while the government in Abuja barely lifts a finger to protect them,” the letter stated.
The CPC designation, used to inform U.S. foreign policy and potentially impose sanctions, was applied to Nigeria during Trump’s first administration but was removed by President Joe Biden in 2021. Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation calling for Nigeria’s redesignation, accusing the government of “ignoring and even facilitating the mass murder of Christians by Islamist Jihadists.” Nigeria’s government denied the allegations.
Parolin’s remarks, shared widely on X, prompted swift backlash from watchdog groups. Sean Nelson of Alliance Defending Freedom International called the comments “particularly shocking,” citing ACN’s report, which notes that “radicalized Fulani herdsmen continue to be implicated in attacks against Christian communities, often involving land seizures and displacement.” The report quotes local Church leaders describing the violence as a “deliberate strategy to expel Christian populations.”
Nina Shea, a human rights attorney with the Hudson Institute, also criticized Parolin. “Cardinal Parolin is repeating the Nigerian government’s talking points that obfuscate and downplay the persecution of the Catholic faithful and other Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt,” she told the Register. “Those Christians are suffering intense persecution at the hands of Fulani Muslim militants who murder, rape, and torch children, homes, and crops in rural Christian communities, such as those in Benue state.”
The controversy echoes a 2022 incident when Irish President Michael Higgins faced rebuke from Bishop Jude Ayodeji Arogundade of Ondo for suggesting climate change contributed to the massacre of dozens at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo on Pentecost Sunday.
While Parolin’s comments referenced unnamed Nigerian sources, several Nigerian Catholic bishops have explicitly described the violence as sectarian. Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of Makurdi, testifying before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee this year, called the violence an “Islamist extermination” driven by an “Islamic agenda to conquer the territory.” However, other Nigerian Catholic leaders have emphasized the complexity of the conflict. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, speaking at the ACN report’s release, cautioned against framing the violence solely as religious, warning that a CPC designation could “increase tensions.” He told Vanguard, “Nigerians are dying unacceptable deaths across the country—not only because of their religion but also their ethnicity. We are on the cusp of a weak state with a clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy.”
Similarly, Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of Katsina told ACI Africa on Oct. 19 that while some violence is driven by crime, banditry, or land disputes, “it would be wrong to deny that some of the killings are based on religious motives.”
The Vatican Secretariat of State did not respond to requests for clarification on Parolin’s remarks before publication. As Nigeria’s violence continues to claim lives and displace communities, the debate over its causes—religious, social, or both—remains unresolved, with global implications for policy and humanitarian response.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from National Catholic Register
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