More than 600 Catholic missionaries have been killed worldwide over the last quarter of a century, according to new figures released by the Vatican’s mission agency.

The Fides information service stated that many had "offered their lives to Christ until the very end".

The agency reported that from 2000 to 2025, 626 missionaries and pastoral workers were killed, including 17 in 2025 alone. The total marked an increase on 2024, when 14 deaths had been recorded.

Those killed in 2025 included ten priests, two seminarians, two catechists, two religious sisters and one layman, Fides revealed.

One of the youngest victims was Emmanuel Alabi, a seminarian who died following a raid on the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivhianokpodi, Edo State, Nigeria, on 10th July 2025.

After the attack, in which a security guard was killed and three seminarians abducted, Bishop Gabriel Dunia of Auchi told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that armed men had arrived “in large numbers” and could not be stopped. He added that authorities had promised protection but that “we haven’t seen any concrete action so far”.

Father Jude Sule, chancellor of Auchi Diocese, later said that Alabi, who was injured during the attack, was left behind during a forced march and was found dead the following day.

The Fides showed, five of the ten priests, seminarians and catechists killed in Africa last year were from Nigeria, with others dying in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

The agency said the annual list included all Catholics killed while engaged in pastoral or ecclesial work, even when not explicitly targeted for their faith.