The number of priests and religious kidnapped increased in 2024, while the numbers arrested for reasons of persecution diminished. In total, ACN registered 121 cases impacting priests and religious, including 13 murders, 37 kidnappings and 71 held under arrest. Ten of these incidents involved women, eight of whom were kidnapped and two arrested.
More Catholic priests and religious were kidnapped in 2024 than in 2023, according to data collected by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Whereas in the previous year, the number of those kidnapped stood at 33, in 2024, a total of 37 members of the clergy and male and female religious were abducted by criminals.
ACN includes in its lists those who were killed, kidnapped or detained for persecution related reasons, but also those serving in difficult or dangerous locations as a testimony of their commitment to God.
This year’s list of kidnappings is headed by Haiti, where a general collapse in national security led to the kidnapping of 18 priests and religious in 2024, compared to only two in 2023. Nigeria continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in which to be a priest or a religious, but the situation improved noticeably, with 11 kidnappings reported in 2024, lower than the number for 2023. Fortunately, all the victims of kidnapping in both these countries were eventually released.
Three priests were kidnapped during the year in Cameroon, all of whom were released. A parish priest was abducted by criminals in São Paulo, Brazil, who held him for a few days and robbed him, before he was saved by the police. Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza from Mexico was also abducted and later abandoned by the criminals in a hospital, where he recovered.
A young seminarian was kidnapped by the military in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but released that same evening, following loud protests from the Church authorities. The colonel responsible for his abduction was expelled from the armed forces and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
There were two cases of kidnapping involving women religious. One in Colombia was robbed and sexually assaulted, but fortunately survived the ordeal, and another, in Malawi, was physically and verbally abused, before being released.
A further four priests were kidnapped in previous years but have not been released nor declared dead. These are Fathers John Bako Shekwolo (2019), Joseph Igweagu (2022), Christopher Ogide (2022) – all from Nigeria – and Father Joël Yougbaré, from Burkina Faso, who was kidnapped in 2019 and has not been heard of since. The inclusion of these priests raises the total number of those kidnapped to 41.
13 priests murdered
During 2024, 13 priests were killed. In the USA, Fr Robert Hoeffner was killed at home, along with his sister, by a young man who stole the priests’ car and afterwards killed his grandfather and a police officer, and Fr Larry Johnson who died at the hands of a man who claimed to have suffered from a psychotic fit, hearing voices that told him to kill the priest to “save humanity”.
Two priests were murdered in South Africa in the period of just over a month. Fr William Banda, originally from Zambia, was killed by a man who waited for him in his church, and who then escorted him into the sacristy and shot him, and Fr Paul Tatu Mothobi was shot after he witnessed a murder. The killer forced Fr Paul into a car and shot him in the head, apparently to make sure there were no witnesses.
Spain also saw a priest murdered in 2024. Franciscan Juan Antonio Llorente Espín was assassinated by a man who broke into the monastery and screamed that he wanted to kill all the priests, having wounded several others before fleeing the scene. A similar crime took place in Poland, where Fr Lech Lachowicz was brutally beaten by a man who came to the presbytery, later dying from his wounds in hospital.
Fr Christophe Badjogou Komla, originally from Togo but serving in Cameroon, was shot in an attempted robbery, and Fr Fabián Enrique Arcos Sevilla, from Ecuador, was found murdered with signs of extreme violence, near a rubbish dumpster, in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. Similarly, Fr Ramón Arturo Montejo Peinado was brutally killed in Colombia during an attempt to steal his car.
In Mexico, which has seen a high number of priests murdered over recent years, Father Marcelo Pérez was killed by suspected gang members in what appears to have been an attempt to silence his activism for the rights of indigenous people.
Fr Josiah K’Okal, originally from Kenya, was serving in Venezuela where he was found dead. Although officially ruled a suicide, his friends and colleagues believe he was the victim of murder, due to his activities in defence of local indigenous populations against criminal gangs. Fr Luke Yugue, from South Sudan, was killed as part of an inter-tribal conflict while he was trying to mediate between the parties and finally, as the year drew to an end, Fr Tobias Onkonkwo, from Nigeria, was shot by unknown assailants while driving on an expressway.
Not counted on the list, but worth mentioning, are cases like those of two catechists murdered in Burkina Faso, a minister of the Word shot outside a church in Honduras, and an altar boy killed alongside his brother and mother in a shooting near a church in Mexico.
Arrests down, but still worrying
Less Catholic clergymen and religious were arrested in 2024 than in 2023, but the numbers remain very concerning and point to serious issues with religious freedom and a lack of legal certainty and response in large parts of the world.
According to information collected by ACN, at least 71 clergy and religious were under arrest due to their faith or for merely carrying out their religious mission during the year of 2024. This figure includes those who were arrested before 2024 but were still under arrest at some point in 2024. At the time of writing, ten remained in some form of custody. For purposes of this list, ACN counts only arrests that can be considered irregular, or as having a religious or political motivation, and not those who were arrested for suspicion of committing common crimes.
Nicaragua, in Central America, once again tops the list of countries for arrested Catholic priests and religious. Since January 2024, a total of 25 Catholic clergy were arrested in Nicaragua. However, if one counts the 19 priests and religious who were arrested in previous years, and remained in custody at some point during 2024, the number rises to 44, just slightly down from 47 in 2023. This includes Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was arrested in 2022 and released in 2024. This list does not count the many committed laypeople who were also arrested by the regime, several of whom are still in jail, such as Lesbia Gutiérrez, the Caritas administrator in the Diocese of Matagalpa, and Carmen María Sáenz, legal advisor to the same diocese. According to local sources, their families have been even denied the right to visit their loved ones.
Besides the high number of clergy and religious arrested in Nicaragua over the past years, which includes three bishops, there is also a very significant number of priests who were never officially arrested but were prevented from re-entering the country after going abroad, and as a result are living in exile. Their number is uncertain, and they are not included in this list, nor are those who fled voluntarily to avoid arrest. In addition, the Nicaraguan regime is doing everything possible to get all the nuns to leave the country. The extraordinary levels of persecution against religious figures in Nicaragua, and difficulty in accessing reliable information, make it difficult to establish a fully accurate number of those arrested in this country.
The next country with the highest number of clergy under arrest or missing is China, with nine public cases, four of whom were detained in 2024. One of those was subsequently released later in the year. The remaining five have been deprived of their liberty and are either in custody, under house arrest or under strict surveillance for religious reasons since before the beginning of 2024 – in one case even since 1997. It should be noted that, given the political reality in China, many more clerics are likely to be subject to restrictions on their freedom of movement.
Belarus is dealing with a very difficult situation, with seven priests under arrest in 2024. Of the seven, three were detained in 2023, one of whom remains in prison and was recently given an 11-year sentence for treason. The other four were arrested in 2024, three have been released from custody.
Other cases of arrests due to religious harassment include two priests and a religious sister in India, in a context of increasing pressure on Catholics and other religious minorities living in a country currently dominated by Hindu nationalists. Several other religious figures were threatened with arrest in India but managed to avoid actually being detained by applying for and obtaining anticipatory bail while their cases continue to be investigated.
The two Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priests who were taken into custody by Russian forces in 2022 and only released in June 2024 are also on the list.
Father Elvis Cabarca, in Venezuela, was arrested while leading a prayer group at a time of anti-Government protests. In Chad, Father Simon-Pierre Madou Baïhana, an outspoken critic of human-rights violations and injustices, was arrested by plain-clothes police, in circumstances that witnesses say seemed more like a kidnapping, allegedly for “inciting division and endangering national cohesion.” Both were released shortly afterwards.
In a few cases, the allegations for the arrest are still unknown or it is not clear whether they were actually motivated by religious discrimination. Father Aurélien Mukangwa, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested at the airport in unknown circumstances. Following protests, Fr Aurélien was set free. Polish Fr Michal Olszewski was arrested for alleged financial irregularities, kept in unusually harsh conditions, and released on bail after seven months. He continues to await trial, and his supporters claim he is a victim of a political campaign. Father Luiz Claudio da Silva, from Brazil, was arrested after appealing to police officers to act with restraint during a crackdown on a demonstration by landless workers and Sister Mary-Ellen Francouer, from Canada, was arrested for taking part in a sit-in at a bank, with a group of members from different Christian confessions who were protesting the institution’s investment in fossil fuel.