Pope Francis is spotlighting the issue of violence against Christians in response to a deadly attack at a Catholic parish in Nigeria.

One priest was killed and another was injured during the violence over the weekend, prompting the pontiff to call for prayers.

“I ask all of you to join me in praying for Father Isaac Achi, of the Diocese of Minna in northern Nigeria, who was killed last Sunday in an attack on his rectory,” Francis said in a Jan. 18 Twitter post.

Achi was killed when his parish in Kafin Koro was set ablaze by terrorists at approximately 3 a.m. on Jan. 15, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported. Achi was ordained in 1995 and was currently the head priest of St. Peters and Paul Catholic Church in Nigeria's Diocese of Minna. Another priest at the rectory, Father Collins Omeh, escaped the church but was shot as he ran off. He is being cared for at a hospital and is responding to the treatment.

Achi had been a victim of violent attacks before, a report from The Dialog said this week. In 2011, he survived an attack by the extremist group Boko Haram during a Christmas church service. Forty-four parishioners perished in the assault. Additionally, Achi was wounded by gunfire during the blessing of a child, and he also escaped a militant kidnapping.

Elsewhere on the same day the priests were attacked, a group called the Islamic State detonated a bomb at a Pentecostal church in the eastern Congolese town of Kasindi, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 60 others; CNA said in another report.

“So many Christians continue to be the target of violence,” the pope said in his tweet. “Let us #PrayTogether for them.”