Pope Demands Immediate Release of 315 Victims in Expanding Nigerian School Kidnappings
The Vatican’s square held its breath on Sunday as Pope Leo the Fourteenth called for the swift release of more than three hundred students and staff taken in a pair of raids on Catholic schools in Niger State and Kebbi State. His voice carried a note of sorrow that felt almost handwritten in the air, the kind that lingers long after the words are spoken. He spoke at the close of his Angelus prayer, describing the abducted children as “many young boys and girls kidnapped and their anguished families left in fear”. He urged the world to remember that schools and churches should remain places of safety and hope, not scenes of dread. The kidnappings unfolded across two states. In Kebbi, armed men stormed a Catholic secondary school and seized twenty five girls. Hours later, and with unnerving confidence, another group attacked two Catholic schools in Niger State, taking hundreds of pupils and teachers. The tally now stands at three hundred and fifteen missing. The scale recalls the dark memories of the Chibok schoolgirls who were taken more than a decade ago. That tragedy still casts a long shadow, with some victims never found. The current crisis has revived old fears that the cycle is repeating itself with unbearable familiarity. Security forces in both states continue their search, but the silence from the abductors has deepened the tension. Every passing hour feels heavier than the one before, as families wait for any hint of news.
| 2025-11-23 19:29:09