Pope's plea for Haiti hostages as Mayo continues to pray for abducted

POPE Leo has appealed for the immediate release of hostages in Haiti, among them Westport native Gena Heraty, who was kidnapped along with colleagues and a young child in Haiti last week.

Ms. Heraty was taken when an armed gang attacked the Sainte-Helene orphanage, southeast of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, on Sunday, August 4. Seven staff members and a three-year-old disabled child were also abducted.

Speaking after the Angelus in Rome on Sunday, Pope Leo said the situation facing the Haitian people was 'increasingly desperate', citing 'repeated reports of murders, violence of all kinds, human trafficking, forced displacement, and kidnappings'.

“I make a heartfelt appeal to all responsible parties to release the hostages immediately,” he said, also calling on the international community to provide 'concrete support' to create the social and institutional conditions that will allow the Haitian people to live in peace.

Late last week Tánaiste Simon Harris called on the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, to put in place a diplomatic point of contact on the ground in Haiti for the Irish government to liaise with.

Mass and prayers have been offered in Mayo for the safe release of Gena and those abducted with her, with a candle lit in the Apparition Chapel at Knock Shrine.

At Mass in Cushlough Church last week, a few miles from where she grew up, Gena’s sister, Mary Heraty Wrafter, thanked the congregation for their support, saying: “It is a huge consolation to know that everybody is praying.”

She added: “All we can do is wait and pray. We have hope. Gena has great faith so it is beholden on us all, I think, to hold on to that faith and that hope.”