Vatican City, 18 July, 2022 / 6:35 pm (ACI Africa).
The bishop of the Nigerian diocese where gunmen killed 41 people at a Pentecost Sunday Mass said he is grateful to the government of Croatia for donating nearly $30,000 to help the families of victims and survivors of the attack.
“Thank God for the assistance we’ve gotten,” Bishop Jude Arogundade of the Diocese of Ondo told CNA on Monday. “It has been very helpful because we still have 17 people in the hospital who are in a very critical situation.”
The attack happened the morning of June 5 at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo in southwestern Nigeria. Gunmen posing as worshippers opened fire and detonated explosives toward the end of the Mass. Some who managed to escape from the church were cut down by gunmen waiting outside.
Islamic militants are believed to be responsible but no arrests have been made to date.
Croatian parliament member Marijana Petir initiated the donation proposal. In an interview with CNA Monday, Petir said the funds were meant to send the message to victims’ families and survivors that “they are not alone, they are not forgotten.”
