Catholic News Agency reports on anticipated U.S. sanctions against Nigeria in 2026 following military strikes against Islamist groups and Rep. Riley Moore’s planned report to President Donald Trump. The article frames Christian persecution in Nigeria as primarily requiring geopolitical solutions – military action, economic sanctions, and “strategic security frameworks” against groups like ISIS and Boko Haram. While acknowledging violence against Christians, the piece reduces the crisis to:
“confront[ing] both ISIS and Boko Haram in the northeast and to stop the targeted violence against Christians in the Middle Belt by Muslim Fulani radicals”
without addressing Nigeria’s fundamental apostasy from the Social Reign of Christ the King. The report’s proposed solutions include visa sanctions against officials and border security assistance while overlooking Nigeria’s constitutional enshrinement of religious pluralism – the root cause enabling persecution.
Naturalism Displacing Supernatural Faith
The article’s approach embodies the condemned error that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, Proposition 55). By framing Nigeria’s crisis through purely geopolitical lenses—military strikes, economic sanctions, and diplomatic pressure—the analysis ignores the essential truth that nations rejecting Christ’s sovereignty inevitably descend into chaos. As Pius XI declared in Quas Primas: “Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ”. The authors never question Nigeria’s constitutional establishment of secularism nor demand its conversion to the One True Faith—the only enduring solution to religious violence.
Omission of Nigeria’s Apostate Constitution
Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution enshrines the modernist heresy of religious equality in Section 38, stating:
“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”
without recognizing Catholicism’s exclusive rights. This legally enshrined apostasy creates the environment where Islamic radicals massacre Christians with impunity. Yet the article never mentions Nigeria’s need to abolish its Godless constitution and establish Catholicism as the state religion—the only remedy endorsed by perennial Catholic teaching. As St. Pius X warned in Vehementer Nos: “That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error”.
False Equivalence in Persecution Narrative
The report dangerously equates Islamic terrorism with Christian self-defense by focusing solely on Muslim Fulani attacks while ignoring Nigeria’s systematic disarmament of Christian communities. Nina Shea’s demand that the Nigerian government confiscate “Fulani AK assault weapons” tacitly endorses leaving Christians defenseless against jihadists. This violates the Church’s teaching on legitimate self-defense: “It is lawful to repel force by force provided one does not exceed the limits of a blameless defense” (Aquinas, ST II-II Q64 A7). The article never questions why Christian villages remain disarmed while facing genocidal threats.
Blasphemy Law Distortion
Alliance Defending Freedom’s Sean Nelson condemns Nigeria’s blasphemy laws as problematic because they
“allow punishment by death”
– a critique that implies acceptance of blasphemy when less severely punished. This ignores Catholic doctrine that states must punish offenses against God. As Pius IX taught in Syllabus (Proposition 40), civil society must “recognize the sanctity of the Church’s laws”. The true problem isn’t blasphemy laws per se, but that Nigeria enforces Islamic blasphemy standards against Christianity while ignoring Muslim sacrileges against Christ.
Modernist Reduction of Religious Freedom
The article’s focus on the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) reveals its modernist foundations. By defining religious freedom violations as
“torture, prolonged detention without charges, and forced disappearance”
(per State Department criteria), the IRFA framework reduces faith to a private emotion rather than Truth demanding public confession. This echoes the condemned proposition that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he shall consider true” (Pius IX, Syllabus, Proposition 15). Authentic Catholic solutions would demand Nigeria’s conversion, not mere “protection” of Christian ghettos in an Islamic state.
Conclusion: Conversion, Not Containment
Until Nigeria embraces its duty to “publicly honor and obey Christ” (Pius XI, Quas Primas), no geopolitical solution will end Christian persecution. The article’s naturalistic approach—sanctions, weapons confiscation, border security—treats symptoms while ignoring the disease: Nigeria’s rejection of the Social Kingship of Christ. As Our Lord warned: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate” (Luke 11:17). Only when the Nigerian nation kneels before its true Monarch will peace reign.
Source:
U.S. sanctions against Nigeria expected in 2026 (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 02.01.2026