Washington, D.C., was unusually full of prayer, urgency, and shared purpose this week as Catholic leaders from the United States and Africa gathered on Capitol Hill.
While congressional hearings debated religious freedom — especially the worsening situation in Nigeria — bishops met not just to talk policy, but to stand visibly together as one Church facing a common crisis.
The message threaded through every moment was clear: this wasn’t about diplomacy alone.
It was about faith under pressure, lives at risk, and a global Church refusing to look away.
A Mass That Put Unity on Display
On February 4, the tone shifted from hearing rooms to sacred space.
At the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, bishops from across regions concelebrated a Mass focused entirely on solidarity.
Bishop David Malloy of Rockford served as the principal celebrant, joined by Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Nigeria’s Yola Diocese and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, who leads the U.S. bishops’ work on international justice and peace.
Five bishops and nine priests were present, but the symbolism stretched far beyond the sanctuary.
The gathering was meant to show that what happens to Christians in Africa is not distant news for American Catholics — it is family business.
“Two Lungs, One Body”
During his homily, Bishop Mamza spoke with the quiet force of someone who has lived through conflict.
He described the Church in Africa and the Church in the United States not as separate institutions, but as parts of the same living body.
When African bishops raise their voices against violence, corruption, and poverty, he said, those words resonate in American parishes.
And when U.S. bishops defend life, migrants, and the dignity of the human person, that witness strengthens believers across Nigeria and the wider continent.
Different contexts, different struggles — but one shared Spirit.
Why This Moment Mattered to Mamza
Speaking later with EWTN News English, Mamza explained that his trip to Washington coincided with the release of a joint statement from African bishops and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The goal of the document, he stressed, wasn’t political or economic.
This was about Catholics recognizing one another as equals in faith — baptized into the same Church, carrying the same responsibility for one another’s suffering.
Africa, he acknowledged, faces enormous challenges.
But what he hopes for is not charity alone — it’s long-term collaboration rooted in trust and shared mission.
Putting God First Before Strategy
Bishop Zaidan echoed that sentiment, emphasizing why beginning the week with Mass mattered so much.
Relationships, he said, have a human side — but the Church starts somewhere deeper.
The Eucharist, he explained, is where unity stops being theoretical.
In the Mass, believers don’t just talk about solidarity; they live it.
Offering the gathering through the intercession of Mary, the patroness of the United States, was a way of placing the entire effort — advocacy included — under God’s care.
A Gospel That Hit Close to Home
Mamza also tied the moment to the day’s Gospel reading from Mark, where Jesus is astonished by the lack of faith in his own hometown.
The passage, he suggested, acts like a mirror for today’s Church.
Too often, he warned, believers become comfortable with familiar structures, traditions, and voices — and miss how the Holy Spirit speaks through cultures and experiences that feel unfamiliar.
The African Church brings energy, community, and resilience shaped by persecution and poverty.
The U.S. Church brings scholarship, institutional strength, and experience navigating pluralistic societies.
Neither is complete without the other.
Faith, Not Funding, as the Foundation
One point Mamza returned to again and again was motivation.
Solidarity between African and American bishops, he said, cannot be reduced to money, aid packages, or political alliances.
At the foot of the cross, people from different lands and wounds stood together — and became one.
That image, he said, defines what the bishops are called to do now: stand together under the same cross, for the same Gospel, in defense of human dignity everywhere.
Nigeria Takes Center Stage on Capitol Hill
Outside the basilica, the urgency sharpened.
The solidarity Mass unfolded alongside the International Religious Freedom Summit and Capitol Hill Advocacy Day, both of which placed Nigeria squarely in the spotlight.
A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, chaired by Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, focused heavily on the country’s escalating violence.
Testimony painted a grim picture, particularly for Christians living in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The Deadliest Place to Be a Christian”
Former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback did not mince words.
He described Nigeria as the most dangerous place in the world for Christians today and warned against the Nigerian government turning to China for security assistance.
China, he said, has perfected tools of religious repression and exports them freely — a partnership that could worsen conditions rather than improve them.
Aid Cuts, Airstrikes, and Missed Priorities
Brownback also criticized recent U.S. policy choices, arguing that foreign aid aimed at interreligious peacebuilding had been wrongly cut.
He called recent military strikes involving Nigeria a mistake, noting that the cost of those actions likely exceeded the funding once provided to groups working to reduce violence on the ground.
He pushed for stronger consequences when countries violate religious freedom, saying “country of particular concern” designations only matter if they come with real penalties, including targeted sanctions.
A Warning Not to Look Away
Representative Smith welcomed Nigeria’s redesignation as a country of particular concern but cautioned against complacency.
Violence continues, he said, and Nigerian officials too often deny the scale of the problem.
Christians are still being killed, especially in the Middle Belt, and denial only prolongs the suffering.
For Smith, the solution requires sustained U.S. leadership — not just statements, but active diplomacy and pressure — to protect all vulnerable religious communities worldwide.
What Comes Next
The week in Washington closed with no illusion that the crisis is solved.
But it did leave behind something tangible: a renewed sense that prayer, advocacy, and global Catholic solidarity belong together.
The bishops have drawn a line that runs from the altar to the halls of Congress, from Nigerian villages under attack to American parishes watching from afar.
What happens next will depend on whether that line holds — and whether faith continues to shape action long after the headlines fade.
