The six nuns kidnapped in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 19 have been freed, and the archbishop of the capital was overjoyed and thankful at the news.

The bishops of Haiti appealed for the release of six women religious who were kidnapped Jan. 19 in a country mired in crisis because of gang violence.

Six nuns from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne were kidnapped Jan. 19 while traveling on a bus in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, according to the Haitian Conference of Religious.

The attack in which Marianite Sister Suellen Tennyson, 83, was abducted from her convent in Yalgo, Burkina Faso, the morning of April 5 was conducted by at least 10 armed men, the Marianites of Holy Cross said in an electronic newsletter.

A Catholic priest in the Philippines was found unconscious and tied up in his car after being reported missing two days earlier, said police, who suspect he was the victim of a kidnap attempt.

MIAMI -- A "Mass for the freedom of Haiti," led by Haitian bishops, turned violent at the end when police fired tear gas into the church.

VATICAN CITY -- The latest victims of rampant kidnappings in Haiti are five priests, two nuns and three laypeople who were abducted together on their way to a parish near the capital of Port-au-Prince early April 11.

DAGUPAN, Philippines – The Catholic bishop in the southern Philippine city of Marawi dismissed as "ridiculous" proposals to negotiate for the release of a priest held captive by terrorist gunmen.

MARAWI, Philippines – Captured priest Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob was seen alive on Sunday in a part of a Philippines city under Islamist militant control, Agence France Presse reports.

ISSELE-UKU, Nigeria – It was supposed to be a quiet retreat weekend last April for Fr. Sam Okwuidegbe, a Nigerian Jesuit priest and director of a local spirituality centre.

BAMAKO, Mali – Four people have been arrested in Mali in connection with the February kidnapping of a nun who remains missing.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – A Mexican priest reported kidnapped in the border state of Tamaulipas was reported to have been safely returned March 30, the Diocese of Tampico said in a statement.

Two years after the abduction of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria, some parents are still hoping their daughters will one day be rescued.

COCHIN, India - Church officials dismissed rumours of social media messages that said an Indian Salesian priest kidnapped by suspected Islamic terrorists in Yemen March 4 is being tortured and will be crucified on Good Friday.

AMMAN, Jordan - Dozens of Christians are feared to be among the 230 people abducted by Islamic State after the extremist group's militants captured a central Syrian town in early August.