Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for the release of Catholic school students and teachers – among them more than 300 girls and boys aged 12-18 – taken hostage this week in Nigeria, and for the release of clerics taken hostage this week in Cameroon.
“With immense sorrow,” the pontiff told several thousand people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for Mass and the Angelus prayer on the Solemnity of Christ the King and the Jubilee of Choristers, “I have learned of the kidnapping of priests, faithful, students, in Nigeria and Cameroon.”
“I feel great pain above all for the many boys and girls taken, and for their anguished families,” Leo said.
“I send a fervent appeal,” Leo said, “that the hostages be released immediately.”
“I exhort the competent authorities,” Leo said, “to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”
“Let us pray for these, our brothers and sisters,” the pope said, “and let us pray that – always and everywhere – schools and churches be places of safety and hope.”
On Friday, kidnappers seized students and staff from St. Mary’s School, a boarding school in Niger state’s Papiri community. Early reports suggested the number of persons kidnapped was between 25 and 100.
Local authorities eventually confirmed the larger number, however, after a verification exercise that confirmed – among other things – the seizure of some 88 students who had attempted to flee the kidnappers.
RELATED: Hundreds of students at Catholic school in Nigeria seized by Islamists
The Friday kidnapping followed closely another incident in neighboring Kebbi state, in which a reported 25 students were taken.
In Cameroon earlier this month, a group of Catholic priests and lay faithful were kidnapped, as well.
According to a letter from the Archdiocese of Bamenda received by Crux and published to archdiocesan social media on Saturday, a parish priest and his assistant were taken by separatist Ambazonian fighters on Nov. 15.
For years, the separatists have been trying to establish an independent state in the English-speaking western reach of Cameroon on the border with Nigeria.
Four other priests and one layman, who had gone to plea for the parish priest’s release, were held by the fighters.
The letter from Bamenda’s archbishop, Andrew Nkea, says all but one of the hostages – Father John Berinyuy Tatah – have been released. Tatah, the letter states, is being held for ransom.
“We have made our position clear that the Church never gives ransoms,” the letter states.
The archbishop’s letter also calls on clergy and religious in the Ndop deanery of Baba 1 – the administrative division of the archdiocese in which the kidnappings took place – to close schools and churches if the hostage is not released by Wednesday, Nov. 26.
“If by Friday, 28th November 2025, Fr. John is still in captivity,” the letter states, “the Archbishop, all the priests, religious and members of Christ’s lay faithful will go to Baba 1 and march to the place where Fr. John is being held, and either bring him home, or remain there until he is released.”
The letter also calls on military personnel “to be professional and ethical in their relationship with the people,” noting that soldiers are “supposed to maintain law and order and ensure the security of the people,” rather than “exploit them by collecting money from them or torturing them in any way.”
Follow Chris Altieri on X: @craltieri
*Ngala Killian Chimtom contributed to this report.
