VATICAN REACTS TO ATTACKS ON NIGERIAN CHURCHES

The Vatican last Monday voiced its pain and sense of horror at two attacks on churches in Nigeria claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram, saying it hoped the government could confront the crisis.

“We again express our pain and sense of horror at this regularity that now means that every Sunday places of worship are hit by a series of attacks,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said at a press conference.

The Vatican hopes that the authorities will be able to confront a situation that appears to be continuing without any improvement, he said

Sunday`s attack against three churches killed a dozen people and left a hundred wounded.

In an msn interview with the Vatican insider website, the archbishop of Abuja John Onaiyekan said the state was absent and condemned the daily Calvary faced by Nigerian Christians targeted by Boko Haram.

The authorities are not defending our faithful. Boko Haram says it wants to put in place sharia law but religion is only a pretext for economic and political interest, adding this was not a religious conflict.

Nigeria is our home. We will not flee, he added.