A Nigerian bishop has said that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and indicated that praying the Rosary would rid the nation of Boko Haram terrorists.
Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri diocese, in Borno State, recounted the details of his vision to a conference in Spain this month.
The Catholic News Agency reported the bishop saying that vision occurred late last year.
Bishop Dashe was praying the Rosary in his chapel, in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
In the vision, the prelate said, Jesus didn’t say anything at first, but extended a sword toward him, and he in turn reached out for it.
“As soon as I received the sword, it turned into a rosary,” the bishop said, adding that Jesus then told him three times: “Boko Haram is gone.”
“I didn’t need any prophet to give me the explanation,” he said.
“It was clear that with the Rosary we would be able to expel Boko Haram.”
The bishop said he didn’t want to tell anyone, but “felt that the Holy Spirit was pushing him to do so”.
In 2009, there were around 125,000 Catholics in his diocese.
After a surge in violence from Boko Haram Islamist extremists, today “there are only 50 to 60 thousand left”, he said.
Most of those who fled sought safer areas in other parts of Nigeria, he added.
Some of the same families are now returning as armed forces from Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon liberate their homes.
In 2014, Boko Haram became known worldwide when members kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in Borno State.
The group has killed 1000 people across Nigeria in the first three months of 2015, according to Human Rights Watch, which reports that more than 6000 have died in Boko Haram-led violence since 2009.
Last month, the group pledged its allegiance to ISIS – also known as the Islamic State.
Nigeria’s bishops’ conference has consecrated the country to the Virgin Mary twice in recent years.
Sources
- Catholic News Agency
- Image: Aleteia
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