Pope meets Colombian nun freed from Mali kidnapping

October 10, 2021

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday met a Colombian nun who was freed https://ift.tt/3Dqj2qh after being kidnapped by Islamist militants in Mali four years ago.

The Vatican said in a statement that Francis met Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez in St. Peter’s Basilica just before he celebrated Mass there to open a two-year worldwide consultation https://ift.tt/3Dqj2qh on the Catholic Church’s future.

The Mali presidency announced her release on Saturday but the timing and other details were not clear.

Kidnapping has been a lucrative source of cash for Islamist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region, where they are waging an expanding insurgency against national armies, French forces and U.N. peacekeepers.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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