"The nuns have been freed. We are happy about it! Praise and blessed be God!".
It is a message that arrived this morning at SIR - the agency of the Italian bishops - from
Msgr.
Pierre-André Dumas
, bishop of Anse-à-Veau-Miragoâne and vice-president of the Haitian Episcopal Conference, announced the release, which took place yesterday evening, of the six nuns of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne who had been kidnapped in Haiti last Friday, 19 January, while traveling on a mini-bus in Port-au-Prince.
For the release of the six nuns,
Pope Francis had launched an appeal last Sunday
with an invitation also to "social harmony in the country" asking everyone to "stop the violence, which causes so much suffering to that dear population".
Bishop Dumas had even offered to exchange the kidnapped men: "Take me but leave them".
Two days ago, the granddaughter of one of the six nuns was freed.
This morning the news of the liberation of all the nuns.
"We give thanks to the Lord who intervened powerfully to free them", continues Msgr.
Dumas.
"And we thank with all our hearts all those who helped and participated in this liberation through prayer and their concrete solidarity with our beloved Sisters of Saint Anne and with the other kidnapped people. May God reward them for the good they have done Done!".
Yesterday, January 24, the Church of Haiti announced a Day of Prayer for the liberation of all the kidnapped people.
The announcement today does not specify how the release occurred or whether the police played a role.
The kidnappers had initially asked for
the colossal sum of three million dollars
in exchange for the release of the nuns and their driver.
Haiti is grappling with a new spike in violence and the capital is paralyzed by blockades and barricades.
Hence the bishop's appeal: "May these acts of violence and aggression against our population in our dear country cease forever! May the State respond more effectively and efficiently to its mission and its sovereign duties! That we cannot never again witness these serious attacks on the dignity of the human person! May our homeland Haiti turn this page of painful history and begin to hope again! Let us all work for the historic resurrection of our people! Amen!!"
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