Rome Newsroom, May 21, 2021 / 09:00 am
Gunmen attacked a Catholic parish in northern Nigeria Thursday, killing one priest and kidnapping another.
Fr. Alphonsus Bello was found dead May 21, the morning after his parish, St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in the Diocese of Sokoto, was attacked by armed bandits. He was 33.
Bello was kidnapped along with another priest, Fr. Joe Keke, 75, who remains missing, according to a statement from the diocese in the extreme northwest of Nigeria.
Fr. Cornelius Tagwai, chancellor of Sokoto diocese, appealed for prayers for “the immediate and safe return of Fr. Keke and for the peaceful repose of Fr. Bello.”