VATICAN CITY (CNS) The "painful and gravely unjust" kidnapping of two Italian nuns in Kenya is of great concern to Pope Benedict XVI, who continues to pray for their release, said a Vatican spokesman. The Pope has been following news of the abductions "with concern and remains close in prayer to the suffering not only of the two kidnapped nuns, but also to that of their families" and their religious order, the Contemplative Missionary Movement of Father Charles de Foucauld, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi in a written statement Nov. 27.
Sister Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Sister Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, both from Cuneo, Italy, were kidnapped Nov. 10 in northeastern Kenya near the border with Somalia.
Father Lombardi said the two nuns were well-known in Kenya "for their generous dedication to the very poor."
"The hope is that this painful and gravely unjust situation, of which entirely innocent and praiseworthy people are victims, may be resolved as soon as possible," he said in the statement.
Members of the Kenya Red Cross Society told authorities the nuns were taken by a group of armed men, who also stole three vehicles.
Father Pino Isoardi, head of the Contemplative Missionary Movement, told Vatican Radio that the nuns "share their lives with the poor. We don’t have any big structures. We welcome into our homes the sick, the aged, people who are starving."
The Italian news agency ANSA reported Nov. 27 that, according to unnamed Vatican sources, the two nuns were both alive and healthy.
The Contemplative Missionary Movement, founded in Italy in the mid-1950s, is made up of men and women religious who live in small communities in the midst of slums, refugee camps and other areas of great poverty.