Scottish Catholic Observer

St John’s Cathedral was attacked during the celebration of Mass, and at least 40 people are known tohave been injured, in addition to the three people killed.

The cathedral is situated in Bauchi Town, part of Bauchi Diocese, a diocese in which many St Andrews and Edinburgh priests have served since the late Cardinal Gordon Gray established a link there.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who has visited Bauchi on a number of occasions, this week indicated his own horror at the recent killings and wounding of so many people at St John’s.

Cardinal O’Brien has sent a message of sympathy and support to Bishop Malachy John Goltok (above with cardinal), whom he had ordained as the first African Bishop of Bauchi in May 2011.

“My own prayers and sympathy are with you and your people, following on the recent bombings and shootings in the city of Bauchi, particularly that recent bombing when two [parishioners] were killed and 45 others were wounded in your diocese,” the cardinal writes. “I have so many wonderful, joyful memories of being in Bauchi that it is hard to comprehend the tensions and indeed the slaughter which is now going on.”

The remains of one of the Edinburgh priests who died in Bauchi, the late Fr John Gibbons, lie in the grounds of St John’s Cathedral. And, just a short time ago in October 2005, Cardinal O’Brien dedicated a memorial to the late Mgr Danny Simpson, one of the ‘father figures’ of the Bauchi missionaries from Edinburgh.

Following Sunday’s attack on churchgoers, the leader of Nigeria’s Catholics has said that the country’s government has failed ‘to get on top of the security situation.’

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos criticised President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime of ineffective intelligence gathering and a failure to root out the perpetrators.

In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Kaigama said that, despite the attack outside St John’s Cathedral, the Christian faithful would not be deterred from practising their religion.

In the second attack against Christians in Bauchi within a week, the dead included a boy, a young woman and the suicide bomber who reportedly rammed his car into a security barrier outside the cathedral.

Nobody has yet admitted responsibility for the attack but Archbishop Kaigama described it as ‘typical’ of Islamist group Boko Haram that, since 2010, has reportedly killed 1400 people in attacks.

“We are very unhappy with the government’s record on tackling the violence,” Archbishop Kaigama, who is president of Nigeria’s Catholic bishops’ conference, said.

“The government and the security services do not seem to be able to find out who is responsible for these attacks. I do not feel that they have got to the root of the matter.”

Archbishop Kaigama, who has been invited to speak as keynote speaker at Aid to the Church in Need’s annual Westminster event next month, said the death toll would have been far higher had security precautions not been in place including barricades at the gates of the cathedral and phased dispersal of people after Mass.

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PIC: PAUL McSHERRY