Roman Catholicism in Nigeria

The Catholic Church in Nigeria is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, the curia in Rome, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN). The president of the CBCN is Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos.

The Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches comprise the world's largest Christian Church, and its largest religious grouping. In 2005, there were an estimated 19 million baptised Catholics in Nigeria and 22.6 million in 2010.

Nigeria, together with Congo Democratic Republic, boasts of the highest number of priests in Africa. The boom in vocation to the priesthood in Nigeria is mainly in the eastern part (especially among the Igbo ethnic group) which accounts for over 70 percent of the country's Catholic population.

The second papal visit to the country in 1998 witnessed the beatification of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. Pope John Paul II proclaimed him blessed at Oba, Onitsha Archdiocese, a local Church established by the apostle of eastern Nigerian, Bishop Joseph Shanahan, CSSp.

The official patron saints of Nigeria are: Mary, Queen of Nigeria and Saint Patrick of Ireland.

Within Nigeria the hierarchy consists of:

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria is the Nigerian episcopal conference.

A more traditionalist subset of the Catholic Church is also present in Nigeria and embodied by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (Nne Enyemaka Shrine,Umuaka). There also exists a community of the irregular status Society of St. Pius X (Saint Michael’s Priory,Enugu).

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