The Experience of Father Maurizio

As you know, Father Maurizio Pallu was the RMS priest who was kidnapped in Nigeria.  He was later released by his kidnappers.  Below is his experience and a photograph of him doing missionary work in Nigeria and elsewhere: 
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Fr Maurizio greets all the brothers and sisters in the UK, saying: “Dear Brother and Sisters, I thank you all from the depth of my heart for your nearness in this difficult moment. I felt the strength of your prayers and your love. Christ is truly risen and with him we will evangelise Nigeria, Africa and the world! Pray for me a sinner. Maurizio” 

The experience of Fr Maurizio: his homily on 19 Oct 2017 at the Eucharist in Scandicci, Florence, on the day he arrived.

Italian recording on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDlinArl0Uc

 Firstly when I got to the Church and saw so many people I thought: “but all these brothers and sisters didn’t come here for a fool like me?” and I see this… sincerely. We all came here to celebrate our faith, and our faith is the Risen Christ so I wanted to speak about the Risen Christ through my experience. 

First of all I am touched, moved by your presence, your participations and your prayers I say it sincerely because I’m sure that these prayers, vigils, sacrifices you made saved my life.

We were in the forest for 6 days and we did not move, only in the first days we moved a little… and there, I experienced a total impotence of my being. I had no Bible or breviary, they only left me a rosary. I prayed the rosary a lot. 

I am very devoted to the Virgin of Fatima because already in Holland she (the Virgin of Fatima) saved my life allowing me to do a work of Christianization in the parish and I consecrated the parish to the Madonna of Fatima 

But last year I had an even stronger experience because on 13 Oct 2016 we were attacked by bandits in another city of Nigeria and we were kidnapped by bandits who were pointing a gun on us for an hour and a half and who stole the little money we had, but we managed to survive 

This year the attack happened on the vigil of the feast of the Madonna of Fatima - the Miracle of the Sun, 13 Oct, and the Madonna pulled us out.

Now, my first conclusion is this: If the devil unleashes such a big battle for 4 poor people, a cretin like me who goes to announce the Gospel, it means that what is behind is immense, I can’t even evaluate it because every time we go out to Evangelize, there is an attack, and then there is an intervention by the Madonna who is stronger that the devil’s attack, and it frees us - but it doesn’t just free us but it also doubles up our strength. 

In truth, this evening I am a little tired because I arrived this morning from Nigeria. I am falling asleep… I was 7, 8 days practically awake most of the time… 

One thing is certain: after this experience my faith has grown, my hope has grown and my charity has grown, and I know that I did nothing there 

We were 3 hostages, a Nigerian (female) student and a Nigerian accountant… 

I discovered the total impotence of my being, I discovered my fear. I did not want to die. I prayed so much for my persecutors and I prayed so much that the Lord will free me. 

I did my examination of conscience. I said “Am I ready to die now? “No, Lord I am not ready to die because I still have not expiated my sins, and not done sufficient contrition”. “If you, Lord, concede me a few more years of life, I promise to multiply my zeal to bring many souls to you”

 …this is what I said: “Let me live because I want to fight the devil so much with the help of the Virgin Mary” This is what I prayed constantly. I prayed for my colleagues, I tried to assist them, they were a little more worried than me. I mean I was so afraid inside… 

…and I saw a response from the Lord. The response from the Lord was as follows: that on the 13th October, the day after our kidnapping, the feast of the Miracle of the Sun, the heart of the bandits’ leader softened, became a little more tender. We started to maintain a dialogue… I told him “you are my brother I pray for you, you are not my enemies, I pray for all of you” “Pray, Pray, for me”, he said, and we started establishing a relationship… 

because one thing that I discovered in all these years of life is that the contrapositions we make are inexorably wrong. When we say: “Muslims, Christians, good, bad, adulterous, pure…” I could go on… because in any of us, at least in me, perhaps also in you, there is a little bit of everything. There may be a violent man who is capable of killing... I saw that at some point of my life I was capable of killing somebody, and you?... and at other times I was capable of sleeping with somebody else’s wife, and you?... and we could go on… 

hence this pharisaic attitude is always dangerous: to divide in good and bad, dividing in half creating a cast of pure ones

I was not pure in that situation in the forest, my intentions were not necessarily pure… what I said to the leader of the robbers… he was the only one who spoke English, the others were speaking Hausa, a language from the North of Nigeria… In this endemic corruption in Nigeria perhaps I’d be violent… I am very violent… You can ask my mother that sometimes I was throwing objects in the air… What did I throw in the air today? I was a bit annoyed… …maybe I threw the telephone in the air… so I am a violent person. How can I judge you…? 

I saw that they did not feel judged because at the end of the day either we think that Saint Francis was a fool in his approach to the Muslim robbers who took him prisoner, or we think that San Francesco was making Jesus Christ present 

I’d like to make it clear that I have nothing in common with Saint Francis, not even the name… 

but the following is certain: it is not true what the World says that if you are like the sheep you will be eaten alive. The one who is like the sheep, wins. He wins because he may lose in this world but wins in the world to come.

I said: Lord, if you want us to die, take us all to heaven, me and the others. I offer my life for their salvation even though I’d like to remain here… 

…so the leader offered me a cigarette, on 13 October, and said “smoke, smoke” “I don’t like these cigarettes, the cigarettes in Tuscany are better”, I said…. 

Then on Sunday it was a very difficult day because there was a blood-thirsty member of the gang and, I gather he was possessed by the devil, for various reasons that I noticed. He really wanted to kill. (It was obvious that) he wanted to kill because he would grab a stick and hit this other Muslim hostage brother who was with me and the student, in an inhumane way, with his stick… At night we were in chains and he was hitting him inhumanely… 

The leader realised this and said: “He is a very evil man, a very wicked man, he is bad…” I thought if this one doesn’t go away… so I prayed, I implored Carmen and the Madonna. “Father please take this blood-thirsty man away because this one will kill us all, he is not interested in money… he is interested in spilling blood…” and on Sunday the leader sent him home. This is a fact. You can interpret this fact anyway you want but this is a fact. There were 8 bandits, and then they became 5 and most importantly without the dangerous one. 

On Sunday I started thinking that perhaps we will manage to come out alive. Also because I saw that this was a Triduum. Friday, Saturday a real death, and Sunday the resurrection. I couldn’t celebrate the Eucharist but I lived it spiritually. 

In the evening they were so happy that they went out to hunt, they killed some wild rabbits, they roasted them, and they gave some to us so we had a BBQ, only the beer was missing. Basically overall we ate pretty badly, but in truth food was the least of our preoccupations. They gave us some kind of polenta and sugar and lots of water of a brown colour, we will probably get the hepatitis… … The doctors are now carrying out some analysis, I hope they’ll hurry up a little because they are a bit slow… so this is what we ate, but the hunger was not the main issue… I was never really hungry even though I normally have an appetite… then yesterday it was my birthday and at the Embassy in Abuja they offered me wine, cognac… we smoked Tuscan cigars.. but in the preceding days I wasn’t hungry because with the adrenaline, the fear of dying is really strong and you are not hungry. What affects you is thirst... so we drunk the water they had. They were drinking and eating the same drink and food that they were giving us. 

Alright, so this was my experience. Then on Monday, Tuesday I managed to pray the lauds because this protestant girl had a Bible so I said: “can you lend me the Bible”? 

What struck me was that on Sunday I was still too afraid.... I prayed the rosary a lot… but on Monday I relaxed a little… and I took the Bible. I took the Psalms at random. The 1st Psalm was number 18, is what you were singing, the psalms helped me a so much in captivity, then I skipped forward 5 psalms to Psalm 23… “the Lord is my shepherd, I don’t need anything even if walk in the dark, I do not fear because You are with me…” and then further four psalms forward: Psalm 27: “The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? even if an army besiege me… I will be confident”.

Then I opened the New Testament at random: Acts of Apostles 10, Cornelius: God regards all the men in front of Him as pure. 

Here all men in front of Him were Muslim. This wasn’t a religiously inspired kidnapping, nothing to do with religion but they were all Muslim. Every man is pure in front of Him pure because he was purified by Christ’s blood.

This helped me. This was my experience. On Tuesday we were freed and left near the road. To conclude I’ll say: my experience is that I did nothing these days. I absolutely don’t feel like a hero, absolutely not. I was very afraid. I was an obstacle to the actions of the Lord, but I saw the power of our Lord’s grace. No-one will take this away from my heart. The power of the Lord’s grace which acted in my poverty and saved me. 

I conclude with an anecdote: have you seen “The Lord of the Rings”? because when I go to Africa and ask the neocatechumens, no-one saw it. “Have you seen the Lord of the Rings?” and they answer “Noooo”. 

To finish I’ll say this, what sustained me was the Christian community, the prayers… Here we do not have great evangelizers, I’m certainly not one of them, here there are no great preachers, big stars, we are all small potatoes, but there is a body, there is a community of the poor, sinners where the sin, the weakness illuminated and sustained by the grace of God becomes a force, and creates communion, and this is what I wanted to testify with my experience. I didn’t do anything heroic, I am grateful to God, I thank Him for His actions through the Community because this is where the force is.

Without the Community you are lost because the man who is alone gets devoured in the World with so many attractions that make him even more alone… let’s leave it at that. 

“The Lord of the Rings” touches me because there is this community of Hobbits, people of short stature, similar to us who are in a sense short in stature, and these persons of short stature save the World. So much so that the great hero Aragorn, you remember this beautiful hero, the man, this great hero, says that the only thing that we have to do is to wait for this half-slave* to take the ring and throw it inside. We just have to gain some time.

This is what I felt profoundly in these days. I can only gain time by praying, awaiting that Christ, through the poor, will destroy the work of the devil and… "CHRIST HAS DESTROYED THE WORK OF THE DEVIL! CHRIST IS DESTROYING THE WORK OF THE DEVIL! Although it seemed that the devil dominates the World, this is not true. CHRIST IS RISEN!

Interview on Vatican Radio (you can listen to it in italian at: 

http://it.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/10/18/don_maurizio_pall%C3%B9_sto_bene,_ho_sentito_la_vicinanza_di_ mar/1343612 

18 October 2017: (English translation) 

Fr Maurizio Pallù was released last night, 63-year-old Italian diocesan priest in Rome, kidnapped last Thursday in Nigeria where he is a missionary as a catechist of the Neocatechumenal Way. Today, among other things, is his birthday. The Diocese of Rome rejoices at his liberation and expresses gratitude to the Lord. So many prayers these days for the missionary, beginning with Pope Francis. 

Fr Maurizio is well as he tells in the exclusive interview of Debora Donnini : 

A. In the three of us taken as hostages, we were a Nigerian brother, a Nigerian student, and myself. They released us around 10 in the evening. 

Q. - How are you doing? 

A. - Well, happy! The Lord has risen, accompanied me, I have had moments of fear but I must say I have felt very much the assistance of the saints, of the Virgin Mary. and of Carmen Hernandez (initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way - ndr) ... We have entrusted our mission in Nigeria to the Virgin Mary, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to Saint Daniele Comboni, and to St. John Paul II ... so it's an iron team! In fact, it's the second time in a year they have kidnapped me, not the first; this was more difficult than the first time, but I saw the miracles that the Lord did, just great miracles that the Lord did to keep us alive. It means that the Lord has a big plan in this country because the devil is attacking with great force to destroy the work of God in this nation. In a year I was kidnapped twice but I am convinced that God will destroy the work of the devil. Another important fact to point out is this: the two abductions both occurred in the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on the 13th of October. Last year we were kidnapped on October 13th and through a miracle of Our Lady we were released after an hour and a half. This year we were kidnapped on October 12th, the eve of the miracle of the sun in Fatima. In fact, I was going to Benin City where the bishops of Nigeria celebrated once again Nigeria's consecration to the Virgin Mary and I wanted to be there on October 13th for this great Eucharist and instead on October 13th I had to go into the forest where I received a sign of Mary's maternal attention. And then on Sunday I received the confirmation that Our Lady and all the saints would pull us out of this situation. We did not give up! 

Q. - Are you now returning to Abuja? 

A. Yes, we are returning to Abuja.

Q. And will you return to Rome? 

A. - They told me to come back to Italy. I would like to stay here [in Nigeria] because we defeat the devil by staying here; the devil is cowardly, he wants us to be scared but he has chosen the wrong way. We are poor men, so we are afraid, but we are supported by the grace of God. And the devil is keeping millions of people slaves here using lies, cowardice and corruption, and when they allow me to return, I will return to here very happy and offer my poor person for the evangelization of Nigeria.

Q. - You were picked up on October 12th, how did these days go? 

R. - On October 12th we were picked up on the road, they came out shooting and then they took us to the forest. There were three of us, it was a band of kidnappers, we walked quite a long way to a lonely place, and then we were there, they had little to eat, they gave us what they had, we went ahead, we drank the water of the creek, a water of brown colour ... and anyway we are alive!

Arrival in Florence on youtube https://youtu.be/rLW2bDfE46E 

Ending with his message to us and the press “with the risen Christ we will evangelize Nigeria, all over Africa and ALL THE WORLD”

Photographs of Maurizio Pallu during his missionary work in Nigeria and elsewhere