International
Pope Francis In Plea Over Kidnapped Nigerian Schoolgirls
Pope Francis has joined bishops in Nigeria in seeking the release of 317 schoolgirls abducted in northwest Nigeria on Feb. 26.
At the Sunday Angelus on Feb. 28, the pope condemned the “vile kidnapping of 317 girls” in Zamfara state and urged the faithful to pray for their safe return home.
“I am near to their families and to them. Let us pray that Our Lady might keep them safe.”
The teenagers were abducted after unidentified gunmen entered Jangebe Government Girls’ Secondary School around midnight, firing sporadically.
The state’s information commissioner said they took away the girls in vehicles. The police have launched a search.
In another kidnapping in February, one student was killed and 42 people were spirited off in the north-central state of Niger from a boarding school. They were freed on Feb. 28, the state governor said.
The Catholic bishops of Nigeria have expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the African country.
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In a Feb. 23 statement following the Niger boarding school kidnapping, they said, “We are really on the brink of a looming collapse, from which we must do all we can to pull back before the worst overcomes the nation.”
“The very survival of the nation” is in danger, the statement noted.
They called on the government to address the challenges posed by armed groups.
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