Benin Archdiocese mourns with Makurdi Diocese

<p class="p">Like many other dioceses across the country, the priests, religious and lay faithful of the Catholic archdiocese of Benin city mourns with Makurdi Diocese. The faithful assembled at St. Paul&rsquo;s Catholic Church&nbsp;Airport road Benin before the appointed time which was 8:00am. Before the commencement of the solemn procession, Benediction of the Holy Eucharist was held, after which the modality for the procession was announced by the Chancellor Very Rev. Fr. Michael Oyanoafo. The Procession was orderly placed, with the altar servers in front, followed closely by the CYON, CWO, CMON, College of Knights, Catechists, Consecrated Women and the Priests. Each group was to pray the Rosary and sing praises to God. There was no room for unnecessary chatter or exchange of pleasantries.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p">The procession was through airport road, to the city center: ring road and then straight on to mission road ending at the the Holy Cross Cathedral where the Holy Mass was celebrated by the vicar general and all other priests present.</p> <p class="p">In his homily, the vicar general Very Rev. Augustine Ehigie condemned the unlawful killings of human beings and&nbsp;the nonchalant attitude of those who &nbsp;were meant to protect the citizens. He encouraged the faithful not to give up hope as we possess the weapon to win the war which is the Holy Rosary just as the battle of Lepanto was won through the Rosary. Our cries and pleas will not be in vain neither shall the death of the two priests and other faithful who died in Benue be for nothing. The walls of terroism and violence must fall just as the walls of Jericho fell when the children of Israel praised the Lord. We too have praised our God, and we strongly believe that our country will not be the same again after today. He concluded.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p">The event was fully covered by&nbsp;various&nbsp;media&nbsp;some of which include ITV, NTA, EBS, Silverbird, and many others</p> <p class="p">Thanks to Almighty God and our Blessed Mother Mary.&nbsp;The weather was so clement. There was a light shower at the start of the procession but we defiled the rain which stopped almost as it began and marched on. No causality was recorded. The city of Benin stood still for the Catholic Church to the glory of God. And after the whole event, and departure from the Cathedral, the heavens poured down the rains.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p">We thank our&nbsp;chief Shepherd Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Obiora Akubeze, the incumben &nbsp;president&nbsp;of CBCN who was away in Makurdi for the same purpose, the Chancellor, the Vicars, the Deans, the Priests, the Religious, CMO, CWO, CYON,&nbsp;Knights, Special Marshals, security agencies, men and women of the press and all who contributed to the succes of our procession today. May our prayers not go unheeded. May Peace be restored in our country Nigeria. Amen.</p> <p>The Message has been passed. Let those in positions of power do something urgently. God bless Federal Republic of Nigeria.</p>