Four people charged in connection with kidnapped nun in Mali

April 7, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Bamako, Mali, Apr 7, 2017 / 06:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Four people have been arrested in Mali in connection with the February kidnapping of a nun who remains missing.

According to the Associated Press, a judge in the country charged four individuals this week.

Sister Cecilia Argoti Narvaez was originally from Colombia but worked in Mali until she was kidnapped earlier this year. Her fate is still unknown.

Armed men kidnapped Sr. Cecilia in the southern Mali city of Karangasso on February 7th. The men forced Sister Cecilia to hand over the keys to the community’s ambulance. The vehicle was later found abandoned. Three other sisters were present at their house but escaped.

A member of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate, Sr. Cecilia had served in Mali for 12 years. Her community administers a large health center in the country, as well as a home where they care for some 30 orphans between one and two years of age.

The religious sisters teach literacy to some 700 Muslim women. They are working on a barn project for times of food shortages, as many mothers in the region die from malnutrition.

Earlier this month, the Catholic bishops of Mali asked the general public to help secure Sr. Cecilia’s release.

“We are exploring all possible paths to obtain Sister Cecilia’s release and are calling upon the faithful to keep praying for her,” said Father Edmond Dembele, secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Mali, according to Fides news agency.

Fr. Dembele appealed to anyone with information about the kidnappers to contact authorities.

“Some people believe that bandits in the area kidnapped the sister in the hope of getting a ransom, and now do not know how to handle the situation,” he said. “Others believe jihadists kidnapped her.”

While jihadist groups like Al Qaida operate in the north of Mali, Karangasso is far removed from their typical area of operations.

 

 

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Nigerian priest liberated after four days in captivity

April 23, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Benin City, Nigeria, Apr 23, 2018 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Fr. Edwin Omoregbe, who had been kidnapped last week in Nigeria’s Edo state, was released on Sunday.

“With great joy in our heart, we want to inform you all that our priest, Rev. Fr. Edwin Omorogbe has been released from the hands of kidnappers,” read an April 22 statement from the Archdiocese of Benin City, according to the Guardian of Lagos.

“We thank you all for your prayers and pray that God continue to grant all our heart desires,” the statement continued.

Fr. Omorogbe, a parish priest at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Benin City, was abducted April 18 by unidentified gunmen near Egba, on the way from Uromi to Benin City. He was released in the afternoon of April 22. The local Catholic community had been praying for his release.

Babatunde Kokumo, the Edo State commissioner of police, and others led a search and rescue campaign for Omorogbe in the bushes of the Uhumwonde Local Government Area after his kidnapping.

The motive behind the kidnapping and the parties responsible are unknown.

Fr. Omoregbe was ordained a priest in 2003, and has studied in Canada.

Several priests and religious have been abducted in southern Nigeria in recent months.

Six women religious were held for two months before they were released by a police operation in January. They had been taken from Iguoriakhi near Uromi, also in Edo state.

An Italian missionary priest, Fr. Maurizio Pallù, was kidnapped in Edo state for a week in October 2017.

In Imo state, Fr. Cyriacus Onunkwo was kidnapped and killed in September of the same year.

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