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).
As of 2025, the president of the CBCN is Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese. He followed the previous president, Augustine Obiora Akubeze.
The Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches comprise the world's largest Christian Church and the largest religious grouping globally. In 2005, there were an estimated 19 million baptised Catholics in Nigeria. In 2010, the Catholic population accounted for approximately 12.6% of the population, 70% of which can be found in Southeast Nigeria.
Historically, the Holy Ghost Fathers maintained a strong presence in Igboland in today's South-eastern Nigeria, whereas the White Fathers operated in Western and Northern Nigeria, and the Society of African Missions in Lagos.
Nigeria, together with the Congo-Kinshasa, boasts of the highest number of priests in Africa. The boom in vocations to the priesthood in Nigeria is mainly in the South-eastern part, especially among the Igbo ethnic group, of which the first evangelizers were Holy Ghost Fathers.
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 Nigeria, Bishop Joseph Shanahan, CSSp.
The official patron saints of Nigeria are Mary, Queen of Nigeria, and Patrick of Ireland.
Christianity was followed by an estimated 46.18% of the Nigerian population in 2020; one-quarter of Christians in Nigeria are Catholic (12.39% of the country's population).
In the same year, over 9,500 priests and 6,500 religious sisters served over 4,000 parishes.
The Catholic Church in Nigeria is organized into ecclesiastical provinces, each headed by a Metropolitan Archbishop. Each province consists of a Metropolitan Archdiocese and several Suffragan Dioceses. In addition, areas not yet established as dioceses are organized as Apostolic Vicariates.
Immediately subject to the Holy See:
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria is the Nigerian episcopal conference. Its current President is Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji.
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).
Catholic Church in Nigeria faces severe persecution. According to the CBCN, at least 145 priests have been kidnapped, 11 have been murdered, and four remain missing between 2015 and 2025. Report by the NGO International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) stated that at least 15 priests were kidnapped between January and August 2025 by Fulani, Boko Haram and other forces. The phenomenon, according to the report, is due to a combination of attacks by jihadist groups and organized criminal gangs operating for profit, with priests being victims of both violent ambushes and financial extortion.
In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency aims to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. University of Johannesburg law professor Werner Nicolaas Nel has noted that this has resulted in the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. There has been a tendency of "mischaracterisation of the situation as civil conflict". The number of Nigerian Christians killed for their identification as Christians accounts for 70% of those being killed for their faith worldwide. The academic Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development published a paper in 2020 that noted that since 2015, over 12,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria. Christian human rights organisations, such as Global Christian Relief have provided higher figures, such as documenting in 2023 that 52,250 Christians were murdered for their faith in the previous fourteen years. In 2025, this garnered international attention with United States president Donald Trump vowing military action in Nigeria if the attacks against Christians did not subside; on Christmas Day 2025, the United States targeted ISIS cells in Nigeria.
In November 2025 the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria issued a statement saying that "it is a matter of grave concern that several predominantly Christian communities, particularly in the Northern and middle belt regions of the country, have come under repeated and brutal attacks, resulting in heavy casualties and the tragic loss of many Christian lives" and adding that "Such prolonged unbearable conditions have given credence to allegations of âÂÂgenocideâ in some quarters. Yet, mindful of the sacred dignity and inestimable worth of every human life, we are equally deeply concerned that Muslims and many other innocent citizens of diverse ethnic backgrounds have also been victims of this same cruelty that continues to desecrate our common humanity."