Vatican City – “I was deeply saddened to learn of the kidnapping of priests, faithful, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon. I feel great pain, above all for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their distressed families.” Thus, today, Sunday, November 23, Pope Leo XIV expressed his closeness and personal sympathy for the anguish and distress of families and ecclesial communities that in recent days have been affected by a shocking series of mass kidnappings in Nigeria and Cameroon.
At the conclusion of the concelebrated Mass he presided over in St. Peter’s Square for the Solemnity of Christ the King, and before reciting the Angelus prayer, the Bishop of Rome made a “heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages” and urged “the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”
The mass kidnappings to which the Pope refers are those that have taken place in recent days in Ndop, in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, Cameroon, and in Papiri .
In Cameroon, two priests were kidnapped on November 15 as they were returning from celebrating Mass in Ndop. Four other priests and a layman who left on November 18 to negotiate their release were also taken hostage by the armed group believed to be affiliated with separatist groups. On November 20, five of the hostages were released. Father John Berinyuy Tatah remains in captivity.
On November 21, in Papiri, in the west-central state of Niger, one of the 36 states that make up the Federal Republic of Nigeria, dozens of armed men arrived in cars and motorcycles and stormed the St. Mary’s School complex, which houses children between the ages of 12 and 17. The kidnappers stormed the dormitories and abducted hundreds of students and more than ten teachers.
“Let us pray,” the Pope added in his invocation before the Angelus, “for these brothers and sisters of ours, and that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope.”
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