The local diocese announced on 19 July that among two of the kidnapped priests, one is killed and the other priest had escaped. while the other was “brutally” killed.
Father John Mark Cheitnum and Father Denatus Cleopas were abducted at around 5:45 p.m. on 15 July at the rectory of Christ the King Catholic Church, in the town of Lere in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State.
Cleopas escaped with his life, but Cheitnum was “brutally killed” by his abductors on the day of his kidnapping, a letter from the diocese of Kafanchan says. His burial is scheduled for July 21 at the Kafanchan’s Cathedral of St. Peter.
At least seven Catholic priests were kidnapped in Nigeria in the month of July, according to data compiled by Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic nonprofit organization.