Are Catholics Being Persecuted?

 Everyone says persecution has gotten worse. Has it really? 

Nigeria is a country of 200 million people, with 53.5% identifying as Muslim, 35.3% identifying as Christians, 10.6% as Catholic. Nigeria has the 10th highest murder rate in the world: 34.52 per 100k people

It is estimated that 89% of Christians killed throughout the world are located in Nigeria, so when we study Nigeria's Christian murder rate, we are looking at a rate of martyrdom (if that's what it is) roughly ten times higher than all the other nations of the world combined. Once we admit that figure, we must also admit that no other country in the world, not even China, gets close to the leader when it comes to Christian persecution. 

The highest number I've seen for Nigerian Christians reportedly murdered between January 2021 and June 2022 is 7600. Most other reports are lower, sometimes as low as one-third of that figure, but let's go with 7600.

There are roughly 4200 priests in Nigeria, but no agreement on how many are killed. Aleteia claims only four Catholic priests were killed in in Nigeria in 2022, with 28 abducted. Vanguard claims 39 Catholics priests were killed, 30 were abducted (most released unharmed after payment of ransom). Four killed vs thirty-nine killed is a rather significant disagreement. 

But, let's pretend that level of disagreement is nothing to be concerned about. There is agreement on the Catholic response. After several of the priestly abductions and murders, Catholic groups marched in the street to protest. None of the Catholic marchers were attacked, much less killed, as they marched. This speaks to a pretty disorganized anti-Catholic persecution movement. 

So, let's review: 

• 89% of all Christians murdered in the world die in Nigeria,
• 219 million people live in Nigeria, 
• 100 million are Christian (including Catholics), 
• General Nigeria murder rate: 34.52 per 100k people
• Christian murder rate (including Catholics): 7.6 per 100k people

According to these numbers, non-Christians are being murdered at a MUCH HIGHER rate than Christians are. Given that Christians make up roughly 46% of the population, just random chance would indicate that half the murder victims would be Christians. And, worse, if Christians were actually being targeted, then more than half the murder victims should be Christian. But according to the numbers, not even one-quarter of murder victims are Christian. With 46% of Nigeria's population Christian, the Christians barely manage a 22% murder rate in the general population. That's a pretty crappy persecution.

In fact, if the numbers are accurate, Nigerians appear to be going out of their way to avoid murdering Christians. Even Nigerian Catholic priests question the American narrative that Catholics are targeted for death. In a discussion of the June 2022 Owo church massacre, in which 50 Catholics were killed when gunmen attacked a Sunday Mass in Ondo state, a priest made an interesting observation: 

"Another Lagos-based Catholic priest, who also requested anonymity, agreed, saying: “I think it is difficult to state categorically that this attack was intended particularly for the Catholic Church.” 

And remember, according to the reporters, Nigeria is far and away the worst possible place to live as a Christian today. Catholics would like to believe we are targeted for persecution because that would make us special and Christ-like. We have a hard time accepting that non-Catholics might not consider it worth their time to persecute or kill us. The numbers above appear to be our strongest case to make the argument "Catholics are being targeted for persecution!." If that's all we have, we maybe ought to shut up.