Gunmen believed to be radical Islamists stormed a Catholic boarding school in northwest Nigeria last week, abducting more than 300 students and staff in one of the country’s largest mass kidnappings in years.

About 50 girls reportedly escaped. Meanwhile, religious leaders, human-rights advocates and U.S. officials urged Washington to take urgent and decisive steps to pressure Nigeria’s government into stopping what they describe as escalating attacks and “genocide” against Christians.

The attack occurred at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Sokoto state, part of a rising wave of mass abductions increasingly targeting Christian institutions and communities. According to Vatican News, the Sisters of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus confirmed that “315 students and staff were taken” from the school and pleaded for global prayer and protection for those still missing.

Several news agencies later reported that “at least 50 pupils kidnapped from a Catholic school in northwest Nigeria escaped their captors.” According to a statement from church officials, the girls fled as kidnappers moved them through forest terrain.

International Christian Concern (ICC) said more than 300 children and school workers were taken in a raid that lasted more than 20 minutes. The gunmen reportedly “stormed the school … without any intervention from security forces,” a pattern increasingly consistent with what advocates call a deliberate targeting of Christians.

Pope Leo XIV, speaking at Sunday worship in St. Peter’s Square Nov. 23, condemned the kidnapping and lamented the broader pattern of clergy and school attacks in both Nigeria and Cameroon. “I pray for the safe release of all the hostages,” he said, urging governments to guarantee the safety of schoolchildren and Christian workers.

So far in his brief pontificate, Leo has been muted at best about the situation in Nigeria, seeing it as having to do more with social issues than religious ones. In remarks to reporters Nov. 18 at Castel Gandolfo outside of Rome, he played down the Muslim-on-Christian angle.

“I think in Nigeria in certain areas there is certainly danger for Christians but for all people. Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered,” he said. “There’s a question of terrorism. There is a question that has a lot to do with economics, if you will, and control of the lands that they have.

“Unfortunately, many Christians have died, and I think it’s very important to seek a way with the government with all peoples to promote authentic religious freedom, respect for all people.”

Sean Nelson, senior counsel for global religious freedom at ADF International, said Monday the scale of the abduction reflects a years-long pattern of militants preying on Christian schools with near-total impunity.

Speaking on GB News, Nelson said, “Earlier this week, there were reports of this kidnapping. (It was a) mass kidnapping, initially was 50, then it was 200 and now we learned it’s over 300 school children.”

He said that since the Chibok girls case in 2014, “year after year, hundreds will be kidnapped at this time.” He added that the terrorists “seem to want ransom or to traffic young girls into sex slavery.”

He cited the case of Leah Sharibu, abducted in 2018 by members of the Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP), who remains in captivity because she refused to convert from Christianity to Islam.

Nelson confirmed that “there was some news that I think 51 of them were able to escape and be rescue.” He added that advocates are “praying for those other 250 and their school teachers.”

U.S. lawmakers also intensified calls for concrete American action following the kidnappings.

On Fox News Nov. 22, Rep. Riley Moore said he met with a Nigerian delegation last week. He said he warned them that the United States was prepared to escalate pressure if the Nigerian government fails to stop the killings and abductions.

Moore said he had urged Nigeria to “partner with the United States. Help us protect the Christians in your country, and we will help you … (W)e do have these kinetic military options on the table, which the President has made very clear he will consider.”

Following his meetings, the West Virginia Republican said, “It does sound like they are open to partnering with the United States to stop these killings.” He added that Nigeria must first demonstrate tangible action. This includes releasing detained Christian farmer Sunday Jackson and working with the U.S. to “disarm these militants in the middle belt of the country, the Fulani Islamic radicals that are there.”

(In 2015, Jackson, a Christian farmer, was working on his land in Nigeria’s Adamawa State when a Muslim Fulani herdsman, Buba Ardo Bawuro, drove his cattle onto Jackson’s farm to feed on his crops. The two men fought, and Jackson ended up killing Bawuro and is on death row in Nigeria at present.)

Moore warned that “this is escalating out of control.” He added that Nigerian officials must stop the violence, or President Trump will make decisions “to end this, stop the killing of these Christians, stop the kidnapping of these children.”

Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey Republican, opened a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing Nov. 20 by recalling the ongoing nature of the Nigerian situation. He said it was past time for the United States to get involved.

“Aid must be tied to verifiable progress from the Nigerian government in preventing persecution, prosecuting perpetrators, and protecting all communities,” Smith said.

He added, “We must provide direct humanitarian assistance to the faith-based groups working on the ground in the Middle Belt, who are best equipped to reach the internally displaced.  (And) we must impose targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, using visa bans and asset freezes against individuals and entities responsible for these gross human rights abuses. The complicit must pay a price.”

Speaking via video link to the hearing, Catholic Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, Nigeria, testified the violence against Christians constitutes a coordinated campaign of genocide.

“My own village … was attacked and several … killed,” he said, recounting kidnappings of priests, nuns, and parishioners and describing “continued attack on Christian villages … perpetrated by Fulani militia.”

Makurdi said that “violence is spreading southward, displacing millions and destroying farmland,” creating a humanitarian disaster as internally displaced persons live in camps “unable to return to the ancestral lands.”

The bishop warned, “Without quick intervention, Christianity risk(s) elimination in parts of northern and middle belt Nigeria within a very short time.”

Anagbe praised President Trump’s re-designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern.” But he added that “it must be backed by serious action.” This includes sanctions on officials “tolerating or condoning Islamic violence,” expansion of humanitarian aid, security guarantees for displaced Christians, and international pressure to end religiously discriminatory laws.

“The blood of Nigerian Christians cries out to you,” he told lawmakers. “We cannot afford to wait any longer … America has a unique role in defending religious freedom globally.”

Al Jazeera reported the kidnapping involved “303 children” taken by unidentified gunmen operating in remote Papiri — part of a broader trend of targeting schools to provoke ransom payments or impose ideological control.

While no group has claimed responsibility, experts note similarities to Boko Haram and ISWAP operations across the north.

As families wait for news of their missing children, advocates stressed that without immediate international intervention, the cycle of kidnapping, forced conversion, ransom, and sexual enslavement will continue.

“School children just feel like they have no security,” ADF International’s Nelson said.

Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.