Catholic Missionary Priest Released after Two-Year Captivity in Mali Says He’s “free to create peace”

Bamako, 11 October, 2024 / 8:20 PM

Fr. Pier Luigi Maccalli is celebrating four years of freedom after spending a two-year captivity in the West African nation of Mali.

Now a free man following his release on 8 October 2020, the Italian Catholic missionary Priest says he is determined to create peace in the world.

“The 4th anniversary of my release from hostage renews in me the urgency of the mission,” Fr. Maccalli says in a Monday, October 7 report by the information service of Propaganda Fide, Agenzia Fides, and adds, “I am free to create peace.”

Fr. Maccalli wrote to Agenzia Fides after visiting Niger’s capital Niamey, where he served before his kidnapping on 17 September 2018 in Bomoanga, near the border between Niger and Burkina Faso.

In the letter, the Italian-born member of the Society of African Missions (SMA) described his visit to the West African country as a “long-awaited return to my homeland.”

He noted that his return to Niger was primarily to give hope to “a population that is still suffering.”

“I have the calm certainty that my return to Niger, albeit brief, and the words of exchange have given hope to an impoverished, sad and exhausted Church and population,” he said.

Fr. Maccalli decried what he described as “too many words and images of violence and war”, which he said continue to circulate in the media, destroying homes and relationships.

“Peace is unfortunately still a hostage to violence,” he said, and added, “What we need is a jolt of humanity based on dialogue and forgiveness. The mission is to humanize relationships. I commit myself to this mission and call upon all men and women of good will who care about peace.”

Fr. Maccalli’s liberation in Northern Mali from the hands of jihadist fighters believed to be linked to al-Qaeda followed a two-year absence after he was kidnapped by unknown people the night of 17 September 2018 in his mission at Bomoanga in Niger.

He had been a missionary in Ivory Coast for several years before being commissioned to Bomoanga Parish of Niger’s Catholic Archdiocese of Niamey, which has been described as “an isolated and neglected area because of the lack of roads, communications and infrastructure.”

In the Agenzia Fides report, the SMA member shares about his unforgettable moments with the people of Bomoanga and the surrounding area, who he says had come in large numbers for the ordination of the new Priests from the Bomoanga Parish.

He recalls exchanging pleasantries with many people at the parish. Many of these people, Fr. Maccalli said, were forced to leave their villages because they were directly threatened by jihadists, finding themselves in the reception centres.

Describing the reception centres, Fr. Maccalli says, “Life is hard and without prospects.”

Those displaced, he goes on to says, miss working in the fields, which is their main source of income.

The people, he continues, lack housing, food and money for their children's education. There is also a lack of medicine, he says.

“Although the aid provided by the Diocesan Caritas, the state and humanitarian organizations has alleviated the urgent needs, the unrest concerns the future, which remains very dark,” the Catholic missionary Priest says.

He adds, “Insecurity on the streets and in the villages is increasing and there are repeated targeted attacks on places occupied by the military.”

Fr. Maccalli says that the local population, especially in Bomoanga, is “caught between two fires”, adding, “On the one hand, the attacks of the jihadists and on the other hand, the military, who distrust everyone and arrest people accused of collaborating with terrorism.”

He says that his visit to Niger was to express solidarity with those in turmoil, adding, “A father does not abandon his loved ones, especially in uncertain times.”

Sabrine Amboka contributed to the writing of this story.