LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigeria's bishops criticized Boko Haram insurgents' use of children to commit crimes such as suicide bombings.

ABUJA, Nigeria - Politicians should desist from hate speech and inciting Nigerians against each other during the campaign for general elections, said a Nigerian cardinal.

ROME - Underlining the failure of the Nigerian government to stop the violent rampage of Boko Haram, a Catholic bishop has called for Western military intervention.

Nigerian Roman Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama says his country needs a similar march to the one held in Paris on Sunday (Jan. 11) to pay tribute to victims of Islamist militant attacks.

MANCHESTER, England - The president of the Nigerian bishops' conference said his country's government could defeat the Boko Haram Islamist militant group if it could muster the same political will it found to fight Ebola.

NAIROBI, Kenya - While the Nigerian government negotiates with the Islamic militant group Boko Haram for the release of 200 abducted schoolgirls, some Church leaders in the country’s conflict-ridden north are expressing doubts about any impending resolution.

LAGOS, Nigeria - Nearly 200 churches in the Maiduguri Diocese in northeastern Nigeria have been destroyed or razed by Boko Haram insurgents since August, a diocesan official said.

I was 17, and had just finished high school in Nigeria. The world had opened up to me with all its beauty, charm and possibilities. I had to consider what I would do with my life. I needed the best that the world could offer. I spent time with my friends. We talked about our future and the kind of profession we wanted. 

Growing up in Nigeria, Fr. Maurice Emelu never imagined his calling would take him around the world and eventually put him in front of TV cameras that reach up to 230 million homes in 144 nations.

NAIROBI, KENYA - Five months after Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls in Nigeria’s Borno State, the Islamic extremist group has begun occupying churches in the country’s northeastern region, Church officials there said.

LAGOS, Nigeria - In an effort to curtail the spread of Ebola, the Archdioceses of Lagos and Abuja instructed their priests to suspend all forms of physical contact during Mass, including the traditional sign of peace.

In northern Nigeria, mounting fears of militant female suicide bombers have raised calls to ban the hijab, or the veil that covers the head, chest and, in some cases, the entire body.

LAGOS, Nigeria - Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos condemned twin bombings that claimed more than 100 lives in his city, saying they were setbacks to peace efforts.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican issued an urgent appeal today for the release of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon - The Catholic bishops' conference of Cameroon has demanded the release of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun, a month after they were kidnapped by suspected Nigerian Islamists.