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Prayer Appeal for Catholic Nun Kidnapped in DR Congo on Her Way to the Market

Sisters and novices from the Daughters of the Resurrection working in the fields/ Credit: Aid to the Church in Need

Members of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Resurrection who are working in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have asked for prayers for one of their members who has been missing for five days and is feared to have been kidnapped.

Catholic Pontifical Charity Foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, which reached out to the Religious Order of Sisters has announced that the Catholic Nun, only referred to as Sr. Francine, disappeared on her way to the market to shop for her community.

“The international pontifical foundation ACN reports the kidnapping of a religious sister of the congregation of the Daughters of the Resurrection in Goma, in the region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the leadership of ACN says in the Tuesday, July 13 announcement.

ACN’s partners in DRC have informed the charity organization that Sr. Francine was kidnapped last week, on July 8, in Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province in the Eastern part of the Central African nation.

“The Nun had gone to the local market to shop for the community and she did not return. Subsequently, kidnappers have contacted the local Church and demanded a ransom,” ACN reports, and adds, “It is not clear if they are bandits or a group attached to rebels fighting in the area of Kivu.”

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The Catholic charity notes that for years, the Eastern Provinces of DRC have been besieged by militia groups.

The Pontifical foundation identifies ethnic conflicts, demographic displacement and access to raw materials as some of the factors that characterize the situation in DRC, adding, “Over the last few years, the situation has been exacerbated by a powerful radical Islamist element.”

Representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of DRC (CENCO) and the Association of Ecclesiastical Conferences of Central Africa (ACEAC) that visited the Provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in January concluded that there is “the Islamization of the region as a sort of deeper strategy for a long-term negative influence on the general political situation of the country.”

The Catholic Bishops informed ACN that prisoners who escaped the Islamist militia Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) confirmed “that they had been compelled to convert to Islam.”

The charity organization which supports a number of projects in Eastern DRC, providing funding for the building of rectories and places of worship as well as Priestly formation programs reports that members of the Daughters of the Resurrection have written to the entity, appealing for prayers and support.

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The Religious Order of African Sisters found in Brazil, Cameroon, France and Italy has been hard-hit by violence in the past decade, ACN reports, and adds, “A number of convents were forced to close, and several Sisters were killed.”

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.