The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J, has issued a declaration following the release over the weekend of two Italian missionary priests and a Canadian nun who had been kidnapped in Cameroon two months ago:
“The release of the two Italian missionary priests from Vicenza, Gianantonio Allegri and Giampaolo Martha, and of the Canadian nun Gilberte Bussière, who had been kidnapped in Cameroon at the beginning of April, is news that fills us with joy. The Holy Father, who had followed the dramatic story from the outset, was promptly informed. We thank God that this incident has come to a successful conclusion. At the same time we continue to pray and to make efforts so that every form of violence, hatred, and conflict in the various regions of Africa and in other parts of the world might be overcome; and we renew the memory of, and the commitment to, the many other innocent people in different conditions and of different ages, who – as we know well – are victims of unacceptable abductions in different places of conflict.”
