Munich (KNA) According to Aid to the Church in Need, at least 132 Catholic priests and religious were killed, abducted or imprisoned in 2023. This is according to the international aid organisation’s own research published in Munich on Wednesday. That is eight more people than in the previous year. As it is difficult to obtain reliable information in some countries, the actual number is likely to be higher.According to the report, there was an increase in the number of arrests of church employees in particular. The aid organisation counted 86 cases worldwide in 2023, compared to 55 in the previous year. Belarus and Nicaragua topped the list of countries in which the most clergy were imprisoned. In both countries, the church has repeatedly publicly criticised human rights violations and the actions of authoritarian governments.In Nicaragua, 46 church representatives were interned over the course of the year, including Bishops Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos and Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, according to reports. The latter was arrested a few days before Christmas along with 18 other clergymen; Alvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison in February after refusing to leave the country. Many of the arrested priests have since been expelled from Nicaragua, including religious congregations such as the “Missionaries of Charity”.In Belarus, Aid to the Church in Need counted ten arrests of priests, three of whom were still behind bars at the end of the year. The Ukrainian Redemptorist priests Ivan Levytsky and Bohdan Heletta are also still in custody. They were arrested by Russian occupying forces in 2022 for alleged terrorist activities.The aid organisation has also received confirmed reports of 14 murdered clergy, including eleven priests. In Nigeria, the priest Isaac Achi and the seminarian Na’aman Danlami died in arson attacks. The Benedictine novice Godwin Eze, who had previously been abducted with two confreres, was also murdered. In Mexico, Augustinian priest Javier Garcia Villafana was found shot dead. He had repeatedly spoken out against the drug cartels.The highest number of abductions was recorded in Nigeria with 28 cases. Most of those abducted were released, but three priests from Nigeria and one from Burkina Faso have been missing for several years.
More and more priests and religious worldwide exposed to violence
Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, prays at a Catholic church in Managua on May 20, 2022. In February 2023, after refusing deportation to the US, Bishop Álvarez was sentenced to more than 26 years in prison. August 4 marked the one-year anniversary of his arrest.