The Hungarian government will provide three thousand dollars in immediate emergency humanitarian aid to the Catholic Church in Nigeria through the Hungary Helps Program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced on Monday.
Gunmen attacked the church of the Kafin-Koro settlement in Nigeria on Sunday, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. The attackers burned the local parish priest, Reverend Father Isaac Achi, alive in his home, while his assistant was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.
The emergency funds offered will be used to support the care of the wounded survivor and the restoration of the parish burnt down in the attack.
The attacks highlight the bloody reality of the persecution of Christians. While Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, the West is not moved by the burning alive of a Christian priest or the bombing of a christening,”
Tristan Azbej, the State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program said, referring to the recent attacks in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “We will not let the suffering of the innocent be silenced,” he added.
Through the Hungary Helps Program, the Hungarian government has been supporting African Christians affected by violent attacks since 2017. Over the past years, the program has worked with Catholic and Protestant churches in Nigeria to help care for IDPs and victims of terrorist attacks, to rebuild destroyed churches, schools, and homes, and support study scholarships for persecuted Christian youth.
Featured photo via Facebook/Azbej Tristan