The “Haram” from Rome

By Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi

Apostle & Nation Builder

1. When Diplomacy Speaks Louder Than Faith

The Vatican has spoken — not as the Church, but as a state. And therein lies the tragedy of Rome.

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s recent presentation, “A Plea & Testimony from Nigeria”, was the voice of a priest, heavy with the burden of conscience. But the response that came from Rome — through Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State — was not priestly. It was political.

Parolin’s assertion that Nigeria’s killings stem from “social causes” rather than religious persecution is not theology; it is diplomacy. The Vatican, in that moment, spoke as a sovereign state navigating alliances, not as the moral compass of the Church defending the sanctity of human life.

Faith became filtered through foreign policy. And truth was exchanged for tact. That, in essence, is Haram from Rome — the forbidden diplomacy of silence where the cry of blood is translated into bureaucratic grammar.

2. Kukah’s Cross and Parolin’s Cloak

Let it be said without malice: Bishop Kukah stood before the world with the tenderness of a shepherd. His address was deliberate, pastoral, and, yes, diplomatic. It was meant to shield Nigeria from the embarrassment of being redesignated a “Country of Concern.”

Yet, between the lines, you could hear the ache of a patriot and the sigh of a prophet who knows his nation is bleeding. He spoke of killings, displacements, and systemic injustice. But he chose to package it in palatable language — a priest trying to save a country that refuses to save itself.

Parolin, however, went further — from compassion to denial. In saying the crisis is “not a religious conflict,” he placed Vatican diplomacy above Vatican morality. In seeking to avoid political entanglement, he walked away from theological truth. For when Christians are slaughtered for worshipping, and priests are burned for preaching, to say “it is not religious” is to crucify truth on the altar of convenience.

3. The Secularization of Conscience

Rome, by structure, is both Church and State — a fusion that demands discernment. But when her officials choose the posture of statesmen over the conviction of saints, the Church becomes an embassy without empathy.

This is not the first time the Vatican has chosen neutrality where humanity bleeds. History remembers its caution during the Rwandan genocide, its quiet diplomacy during wars in Latin America, and now, its delicate dance around Nigeria’s agony.

But neutrality, when faced with evil, is never holy. It is haram — forbidden — because silence sanctifies slaughter.

The moment Rome downplays religious persecution in Nigeria as “social tension,” it reinforces the same narrative the Nigerian state uses to deny genocide: that victims are “farmers,” not Christians; that killers are “bandits,” not jihadists; that graves are “complex,” not criminal.

4. When Faith Bows to Foreign Policy

Every empire, even a moral one, seeks self-preservation. The Vatican’s global diplomacy depends on balancing relationships with Muslim nations, mediating Middle East conflicts, and preserving its soft power among secular governments.

So when Nigeria’s name came under review as a “Country of Concern,” Rome’s calculation was clear: avoid confrontation, maintain cooperation.

Yet the cost of that caution is human life. Diplomacy may build bridges, but truth builds peace. Without truth, bridges collapse under the weight of blood.

Kukah’s moderation was pastoral; Parolin’s minimization was political. The difference is that one sought reconciliation, the other rationalization. One spoke from the Cross; the other from the cloak.

5. The Forbidden Truth

Let it be clear: Boko Haram did not quote the weather before burning churches. Fulani militias did not recite climate change before slaughtering farmers. Deborah Samuel was not lynched by poverty — she was killed by a mob shouting Allahu Akbar.

To call these acts “social causes” is to baptize genocide in the waters of geopolitics. It is to wash blood with the language of bureaucracy. It is haram — a sin against truth, and an offense against the victims whose only crime was believing differently.

6. The Cross Still Stands

Bishop Kukah has done his part. As a priest, he cannot be expected to carry both the Cross and the sword. His calling is to intercede, not indict. But as citizens, we must speak where diplomacy cannot.

Rome may choose silence; Nigeria’s conscience must not. The blood of our martyrs — from Deborah in Sokoto to the priests in Benue — is still crying from the ground. The Church universal may forget, but Heaven will not.

7. Conclusion: Beyond Rome

The world must know: Nigeria’s persecution is real, systematic, and moral — not meteorological. It is not about herders and farmers. It is about hate weaponized through faith, tolerated by the state, and excused by the world.

If Rome will not call it by name, let us do so here: this denial is Haram from Rome — a diplomacy of death disguised as peace.

And yet, in the midst of betrayal, we shall keep the faith. For truth, like resurrection, may be buried for a while, but it never stays dead.

Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi

Apostle & Nation Builder

Convener, Apostolic Round Table.