International News

Two Priests and a Nun Are Freed in Cameroon

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – From Cameroon to northern Italy and from Montreal to the Vatican, statements expressing “great joy” accompanied the news that a Canadian sister of Notre-Dame and two Italian missionary priests were released unharmed almost two months after being kidnapped in northern Cameroon.

“It is with great joy that the sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame have learned … of the release of Sister Gilberte Bussiere,” said a June 1 statement from the Montreal-based order. Sister Bussiere, 74, had been working in Cameroon since 1979.

The Diocese of Vicenza, Italy, also put out a statement expressing “great joy” that Fathers Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri had been freed. Father Marta had been in Cameroon seven years, while Father Allegri joined him at the mission in 2013.