{"id":61173,"date":"2018-09-19T13:53:13","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T11:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=61173"},"modified":"2018-09-19T13:53:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T11:53:13","slug":"%d8%a5%d8%ae%d8%aa%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%81-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%86-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a-%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%ac%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d8%a5%d8%ae%d8%aa%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%81-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%87%d9%86-%d8%a5%d9%8a%d8%b7%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%8a-%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%ac%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian missionary priest kidnapped in Niger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subTitle\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"color: #646464; text-align: justify;\"><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"article__subTitle\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"color: #646464; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">An Italian missionary priest in Niger has been kidnapped by alleged jihadists close to the border with Burkina Faso. The Italian Foreign Ministry is investigating the case.<\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"article__text\" dir=\"ltr\" style=\"color: #373737;\">\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">Missionary\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: bolder;\">Father Pierluigi Maccalli<\/span>\u00a0was kidnapped overnight in south\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: bolder;\">Niger<\/span>, near the border with Burkina Faso, allegedly by a group of jihadist militants.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">A Niger government spokesman said today it is the second abduction of a European national in the West African country this year.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">Father Maccalli of the\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: bolder;\">Society of African Missions<\/span>\u00a0(SMA) is originally from the Diocese of the northern Italian town of Crema and had worked for years as a missionary in Ivory Coast before transferring to the parish of Bomoanga, in Niamey Diocese.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">A witness said the 57-year-old-priest was kidnapped together with a local nun. The region has been struggling to defeat jihadist groups, including some affiliated with al Qaeda and Islamic State, which are active along Niger&#8217;s porous borders with both Mali and Burkina Faso.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">The Italian Foreign Ministry is in contact with the priest\u2019s family and is working on the case.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">Father Maccalli\u2019s family said it is gathered in hopeful prayer for the safe return of their loved one.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Italian missionary priest in Niger has been kidnapped by alleged jihadists close to the border with Burkina Faso. The Italian Foreign Ministry is investigating the case. Missionary\u00a0Father Pierluigi Maccalli\u00a0was kidnapped overnight in south\u00a0Niger, near the border with Burkina Faso, allegedly by a group of jihadist militants. A Niger government spokesman said today it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":61174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3861,3641,11907,11908,3657,804,11905,829,11906,1350],"class_list":["post-61173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4","tag-italian","tag-kidnapped","tag-missionary","tag-niger","tag-priest","tag-804","tag-11905","tag-829","tag-11906","tag-1350"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61175,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61173\/revisions\/61175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}