Pope calls on kidnappers in Nigeria to free 265 students and teachers after 50 pupils escape

Fifty of the 303 schoolchildren abducted from a Catholic school in Nigeria’s Niger state have escaped and are now with their families. The school authority said Sunday that 50 children aged 10 to 18 had escaped individually between Friday and Saturday. The Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state, confirmed the news. A total of 253 schoolchildren and 12 teachers are still missing after gunmen attacked the St. Mary’s School in the remote Papiri community on Friday. No group has claimed responsibility. The pope on Sunday called for the immediate release of all those being held.