A Catholic missionary who spent more than two years chained and threatened with death by Islamist extremists in Niger said the greatest battle of his captivity was not surviving his kidnappers but resisting the temptation to hate them.
Fr Pier Luigi Maccalli told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) the ordeal transformed his understanding of faith, peace and forgiveness.
The Italian missionary was serving in the remote village of Bomoanga when armed jihadists seized him during the night of 17 September 2018 and transported him across the border into neighbouring Mali.
He said that when he realised his kidnappers were jihadists, “it was like a punch in the gut. A heavy stone fell on me and crushed me. The weight was too much, and I cried tears of despair.”
The next 750 days were marked by isolation, uncertainty and repeated threats to his life but one moment remains etched in his memory.
“It was 23 May. A jihadist told me: ‘At the first opportunity, I’m going to put a bullet in your forehead’. And he was not joking.”
Fr Maccalli said captivity forced him to confront one of Christ’s most difficult teachings – loving your enemies: “I asked myself: ‘How can I love these people who have taken away my freedom, chained me every day, and threatened me with death?’”
His answer came through prayer and reflection on the words spoken by Jesus during the crucifixion.
“It was only when I was able to say, alongside the man on the cross: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’, that I was able to fully understand the new logic of the Beatitudes.”
Prayer became his lifeline throughout the long months of captivity and he made a rosary out of cloth, that helped him stay connected to his family and to the communities for which he prayed. He said he “learned to be a missionary with my heart, not with my feet.”
Today, as jihadist violence continues to destabilise large parts of the Sahel, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, Fr Maccalli had a message of encouragement for Christians living under the shadow of extremist violence.
He said: “During my imprisonment, I remembered these words of Jesus: ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven’.
He said he was convinced his release was the result of people praying and said: "To all of them, my sincere thanks, and I renew my invitation to everyone to believe and hope, to pray and to work for peace.”