265 students & staff from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri still held since Nov 21. Missionary orders launch worldwide prayer appeal for safe release.
Newsroom (02/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) and the Society of African Missions (SMA) have issued an urgent joint call for worldwide prayer as 265 pupils and staff from St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri remain in captivity more than a week after their abduction.
The hostages – 239 primary school children, 14 secondary students, and 12 staff members – were seized on November 21 in an attack on the mission-run school in Niger State. The diocese of Kontagora later confirmed that 50 students managed to escape and have been reunited with their families, offering a rare note of relief amid widespread anguish.
In a statement sent to Fides News Agency, SMA Superior General Father François du Penhoat described the continuing captivity as “a deep wound in the life of the school and the community as a whole.”
“We understand the anguish felt by the families, the OLA community, the Diocese of Kontagora, and the entire population of Papiri,” Father du Penhoat wrote. “We take some comfort in the announcement… confirming the escape and return of fifty students. We unite our hearts in imploring the swift and safe release of all those still held captive.”
The OLA Sisters, who administer the school and share a common spiritual heritage with the SMA, initially appealed with the words: “We stand with them, we grieve with them, we pray with them.”
Echoing that call, Father du Penhoat urged the global Catholic missionary family to form “a great chain of prayer,” drawing parallels to the international solidarity shown during the 2018 kidnapping of SMA priest Father Pierluigi Maccalli in Niger, who was released after two years.
“I invite everyone to join the great chain of prayer that has already begun,” he said. “I ask all my confreres in every community to actively participate in this prayer of solidarity.”
The SMA leader concluded with a concrete spiritual appeal: that “every Eucharist celebrated, every Rosary prayed, and every moment of intercession” be offered for the safe return of the 265 hostages, for strength for their families, for the protection of Christian communities across Nigeria, and for lasting peace in a region plagued by recurrent banditry and jihadist violence.
As of December 2, 2025, no group has officially claimed responsibility for the mass abduction, and negotiations – if any – remain undisclosed. Local authorities and security forces continue search-and-rescue efforts amid growing calls for decisive action to curb school kidnappings that have become a grim hallmark of insecurity in northern and central Nigeria.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Fides News
Related Images:
