Six nuns were among the individuals abducted in Haiti, a country in the Caribbean ravaged by gang violence, and Pope Francis has demanded their release.
The pope claimed as he concluded his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican, “I learned with pain of the news of the kidnapping in Haiti of a group of people, among them six religious sisters.”
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The pope urged not only for the nun’s release but unity and peace for the nation, “In earnestly asking for their release, I pray for social harmony in the country.”
He continued, “I invite everyone to stop the violence that causes so much suffering to that dear population.”
Eight persons, including six nuns, were recently abducted while riding a bus in the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the Haitian Religious Conference, the union of religious orders in the country.
The event occurs in the midst of a surge of kidnappings in Haiti, the Americas’ poorest nation that is dealing with a dire security situation.
Pope Francis, who is 87 years old, also mentioned the state of affairs in Ecuador, another nation struggling with gang violence.
In St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff called out to the people gathered there to hear him pray, “The bishops and migrants of Ecuador, to whom I assure my prayers for peace in their country”.
The quick expansion of international cartels using Ecuador’s ports to transport narcotics to Europe and the US has left the country, which was long seen to be a stronghold of peace in Latin America, in a state of turmoil.
