AFRICA/NIGER - Four months of imprisonment for Father Maccalli: his "adventure of faith and hope" continues

Friday, 18 January 2019 kidnappings   missionaries   violence   prayer  

SMA

Niamey (Agenzia Fides) - "Yesterday 17 January, all the faithful communities in the diocese of Niamey, recalled the 4 months since the kidnapping of father Gigi Maccalli during the Masses. We also remembered the burning of churches and Christian temples in Zinder and Niamey, which took place on 16 and 17 January 2015, after the demonstrations of support for the killing of Charlie Ebdo journalists in France": says to Agenzia Fides Father Vito Girotto of the Society for African Missions (SMA), a missionary in Niamey.
"During the offertory of yesterday's Mass - the missionary continues - a great cross was presented that recalls what Fr. Gigi is carrying in his painful experience. Four candles were lit to commemorate the four months of our confrere’s kidnapping. The bread and wine, which are blessed for Mass, symbolized the sacrifice that Fr. Gigi is living, and we hope he is soon released". Girotto reports: "I noted with joy that almost all the faithful learned the prayer for his liberation by heart that we have been repeating incessantly for 122 days, in the hope that the Lord will listen to us and protect our confrere", concludes the missionary. (VG/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 18/1/2019)


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