Bishop urges Christians in Nigeria to speak ‘the language of Pentecost’ amid insecurity

In his Pentecost message, Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Nigeria’s Diocese of Oyo called on Christians to invoke the Holy Spirit against violence, kidnapping, and hatred.

OYO, Nigeria — Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Oyo has called on Christians to invoke the Holy Spirit against violence, kidnapping, and hatred in the West African nation, urging believers to reject what he described as “unchristian rhetoric of vengeance” and instead embrace “the language of Pentecost: unity and love.”

In his Pentecost 2026 message shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on Sunday, Badejo reflected on the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and linked the solemnity to Nigeria’s present security and social challenges — including banditry, insurgency, kidnappings, and growing hostility on digital media.

“We must ask for the Holy Spirit that rescued Paul and Silas from unjust imprisonment,” the bishop said, adding: “Pray that the same Spirit, that same divine force, shake down the enclaves that hold God’s children captive in Nigeria and set them free, rendering powerless all their captors and torturers.”

The bishop, who is former president of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications, an entity of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, appealed for prayers for the conversion of perpetrators of violence in Africa’s most populous nation.

“We pray that that same force will bend the hearts of the agents of evil to conversion and to God,” he said.

In his message titled “Come Holy Spirit, Dispel Our Fears,” Badejo described Pentecost as the moment that transformed fearful disciples into courageous witnesses of Christ after receiving the Holy Spirit.

“The apostles and the mother of Jesus gathered together in prayer, in anxiety or out of fear,” he said. “However, the Bible teaches that after the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles a change came over them.”

Quoting Acts 2:4, he said: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.” Pentecost, he said, “repaired the damage caused by human self-centeredness at the Tower of Babel when human beings were scattered and no longer understood one another.”

“The Holy Spirit united the world in one language of love,” said Badejo, a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication since December 2021.

He urged Christians not to surrender to fear despite Nigeria’s ongoing difficulties.

“The Holy Spirit will give us courage to do Jesus’ will in spite of our troubles like it did to the apostles on the first day,” Badejo said. “After the Holy Spirit descended on them those few disciples lost all fear and witnessed to Christ.”

“No longer were they closed in one room for whatever reason; they burst out to the entire territory, refusing to allow fear or their concerns to paralyze them,” he added.

The Catholic leader, who started his episcopal ministry in October 2007 as coadjutor bishop of the Oyo Diocese, also called on public officials and citizens to allow the Holy Spirit to guide their responsibilities toward the common good.

“Pray that he inspire those in governance to use their position and power to secure lives and property,” he said, and further appealed: “Pray that those who are equipped to make life better for all be made to do their duties.”

Addressing young people in particular, Badejo challenged them to transform social media into a space for evangelization and peace-building.

“I ask all youths to ‘evangelize and catechize the social media’ not just by being present on them but by transforming them with good news,” he said, warning against “the spread of violent, degrading, and manipulative online content.”

“Much news and videos of pornography, exploitation, calumny, abuse, torture, violence, and inhumanity are on the internet around today,” he noted, lamenting: “Many are fake and malicious.”

Badejo cautioned that such content “provide a dark kind of pleasure but they offend human dignity and do not make anything better.”

“Those who have the Holy Spirit must choose to share only content that add value to others,” he said, describing this approach as the “Pentecost Outreach.”

Badejo further urged young people “touched by the Holy Spirit to fight extremism on the social media because all violence, evil, and war in this world begin from a thought and an idea.”

The Nigerian Church leader strongly criticized prayer expressions that invoke destruction against perceived enemies.

“People who are praying like this are pagans and are telling us that there is no spirit of God in our churches or in the world,” he said, urging Christians to abandon such practices. “Stop these nonsense prayers and begin to speak the language of the Pentecost: unity and love.”

Referencing St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, the bishop said the fruits of the Holy Spirit are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

He also pointed believers to the example of Jesus on the cross.

“Remember how Jesus Christ forgave the world on the cross,” Badejo said, adding: “This is what it means to be born again and to create a better world.”

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.