While churches across Western Europe continue to close their doors, repurpose their buildings, or grapple with widespread apathy, Nigeria is experiencing a Catholic awakening that defies global trends.
With an estimated 35 million Catholics and a staggering 94 percent weekly Mass attendance rate (apparently the highest in the world), the West African nation has undeniably become one of the most vibrant strongholds of global Catholicism. But this explosive growth in Nigeria and Africa as a whole is not without its shadows.
In this wide-ranging interview with Catholic World Report, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of Nigeria’s Sokoto Diocese dives into the roots of Nigeria’s faith explosion, attributing it to the foundational sacrifices of early missionaries and the towering moral stature of the first generation of indigenous clergy.
Yet, even as he celebrates this phenomenal growth, Kukah is not oblivious to the fact that the secular virus that crippled European Christianity could also infect Africa.
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