NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      ROME (CWNews.com) - Four priests, six nuns, and a brother were kidnapped by rebel forces in Sierra Leone last week, according to the Rome-based missionary news service MISNA on Monday.

      The agency reported that the group was kidnapped in an eastern district of the capital city Freetown. The priests were kidnapped on Tuesday and the others were abducted on Thursday. Archbishop Joseph Henry Ganda of Freetown was also abducted last week by rebels and is being held along with two Italian missionary priests abducted last year.

      Three of the priests and the brother abducted last week are Italian while the other priest is Spanish and all belong to the Xaverian Brothers order. Four of the nuns are Indian, one is Kenyan, and the other is from Bangladesh. All belong to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity order.

      Freetown has been devastated by fighting since January 6 when Revolution United Front (RUF) rebels invaded the city and engaged government forces as well as West African peacekeeping troops. A RUF spokesman said he knew nothing of the abduction but would try to secure their release if the claims proved true.