Nigeria has secured the release of 100 students kidnapped from St. Mary Catholic boarding school in Papiri, as government officials and Church leaders continue urging urgent action to free the remaining children still held by armed captors.
The rescue, announced earlier this week, follows the November 21 abduction in which hundreds of Catholic schoolchildren were taken by gunmen who stormed the campus. According to LifeSiteNews, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the update and publicly expressed gratitude for the safe return of the first group.
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“I have been briefed on the safe return of 100 students from the Catholic School in Niger State,” President Tinubu said, according to LifeSiteNews, while also praising local officials and security personnel for “their steadfast work in ensuring the safe return of the students to their families since the unfortunate incident on November 21.”
Despite the progress, the crisis remains severe. LifeSiteNews reports that 50 additional schoolchildren managed to escape captivity and return to their families on their own, according to the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora and Aid to the Church in Need.
The full scope of the abduction appears to be larger than initially understood, with earlier estimates suggesting that as many as 315 students were taken. Families described the brutality of the ordeal in interviews with international media. One father recounted to the BBC that the children “were being trafficked on foot the way shepherds control their herds,” adding that some who stumbled “would be kicked” and forced to continue. The armed men reportedly traveled on “about 50 motorcycle bikes while controlling them,” according to LifeSiteNews’ account of the interview.
The tragedy drew a swift and emotional response from Pope Leo XIV, who appealed for the immediate release of every child. In remarks delivered after Mass for the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Holy Father said he felt “deep sorrow, especially for the many boys and girls who have been abducted, and for their anguished families,” according to LifeSiteNews. He urged “appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their liberation.”
President Tinubu has vowed that the government will not relent until every abducted student is returned home. “My directive to our security forces remains that all the students and other abducted Nigerians across the country must be rescued and brought back home safely,” he said, according to LifeSiteNews. “We must account for all the victims.”
He emphasized that the safety of schoolchildren must become a national priority. “Our children should no longer be sitting ducks for heartless terrorists intent on disrupting their education and subjecting them and their parents to unspeakable trauma,” Tinubu said.
As Catholic communities around the world pray for the remaining hostages, Church leaders in Nigeria continue to call for stronger protections for schools and for renewed international attention to ongoing persecution in the region.
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