Vatican City, Feb 26, 2018 / 12:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rebecca Bitrus, who was a prisoner with Boko Haram for two years, is a stark reminder that behind all the rhetoric about promoting peace and helping persecuted Christians, there are real people who have suffered unimaginable atrocities.
In Bitrus’ case, these atrocities include losing her unborn child as a result of her captivity; watching her three-year-old son be killed because she refused to convert to Islam; and being raped and forced into a marriage with a Boko Haram fighter.
Stories such as this are commonplace in Nigeria, where Boko Haram militants since 2002 have killed tens of thousands of Christians and Muslims who don’t share their extremist ideals.
Based in northern Nigeria and active in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, Boko Haram has been responsible for multiple deadly attacks on villages, schools and churches, often using children in suicide bombing missions as parts of territory controlled by the group have come under attack by local forces seeking to reclaim the area. In 2015, they pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
Yet despite all of the suffering she was forced to endure at the hands of her captors, Bitrus has also learned to forgive, pointing to the mercy of Christ as a model.
Speaking to EWTN Feb. 23, Bitrus said she was abducted by Boko Haram in August 2014, when late one evening the militants invaded the small town where she and her husband lived with their two small children, Zachariah and Joshua. At the time, Zachariah was five, and Joshua was three.
Bitrus tried to flee, but she and her sons were abducted by Boko Haram and taken to the group’s camp in the forest.
Forced to take the name “Miriam,” she said that she was immediately put to work in a labor camp. She said she had been pregnant with her third child at the time of her abduction, but lost the baby due to the strains of her captivity.
After arriving in the camp, she said the fighters wanted her to convert to Islam. Having been raised a devout Catholic, Bitrus refused. As a result, she said the militants grabbed her youngest son, Joshua, and threw him into a river.
“I have lost him,” she said, explaining that after the incident, she went through the motions and pretended to accept the Muslim faith, “but never did.”
Each time they were forced to recite the Muslim prayers, Bitrus said she would instead pray the rosary, asking God to free her “from the hands of this wicked people.”
“I was never convinced about Islam. I kept my trust in the Lord and I was praying the rosary with my fingers,” she said. “I am convinced that the prayer of the rosary saved me from captivity.”
Bitrus said that at one point, she was forced into a marriage with a Boko Haram fighter, and – like many of the other female prisoners – subjected to repeated rape. She eventually became pregnant and gave birth to a child on Christmas day, whom she named Christopher, in honor of Christ.
After two years in captivity, Bitrus and her two living sons were able to escape when the militants fled as Nigerian troops closed in on the encampment. Amid the chaos, a group of prisoners fled into the forest, where they spent nearly a month with almost no food or water, she recounted, adding that mosquitoes constantly attacked them and she developed severe rashes that have left scars on her body.
With the help of a local community, they were eventually pointed in the direction of the Nigerian army. The troops initially didn’t believe that Bitrus was Christian, and thought she was a member of Boko Haram. However, after reciting several prayers, including the Hail Mary and the Glory Be, they believed her and sent her to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Afterward being discharged, she was sent back to her hometown of Maiduguri, where she was reunited with her husband. For the two years prior, they had each believed that the other had been killed.
When she first escaped, Bitrus said she struggled to accept her youngest child, who was six months old at the time, because he reminded her of the atrocities she had suffered. However, the local bishop, Oliver Dashe Doeme, talked to her and encouraged her to both “accept and love” the child, saying he could grow up to be “an important person in life, a person who could help me.”
She voiced gratitude to Bishop Dashe Doeme, saying he “cared for my needs and I grateful for that.”
Although it was not easy, Bitrus said she was eventually able to forgive Boko Haram for everything she endured.
“I am convinced about Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness,” she said, noting how Jesus himself was tortured, treated unjustly and condemned to death.
However, “even on the cross Jesus forgave those who inflicted pain to him; he said ‘Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,’” she reflected.
Bitrus was able to tell her story to Pope Francis during a private Feb. 24 audience at the Vatican. Joining her were Ashiq Masih and Eisham Ashiq, the husband and daughter, respectively, of Asia Bibi, who has been on death row in Pakistan since 2010 on charges of blasphemy.
The meeting was organized by Aid to the Church in Need, a papal foundation dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians. On Saturday, the organization hosted an event in which Rome’s ancient Colosseum was illuminated red in order to raise awareness of anti-Christian persecution throughout the world and commemorate the modern martyrs who have died for their faith.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Tonight the colosseum in <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rome?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Rome</a> is illuminated red in honor of persecuted Christians throughout the world <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ColosseoRosso?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#ColosseoRosso</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/acn_int?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@acn_int</a> ???? <a href=”https://twitter.com/dibanezgut?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@dibanezgut</a> <a href=”https://t.co/9QlK0pQtaB”>pic.twitter.com/9QlK0pQtaB</a></p>— Elise Harris (@eharris_it) <a href=”https://twitter.com/eharris_it/status/967463801451892736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
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In comments to EWTN Feb. 23, Ashiq Masih said that although his wife is still in prison, she is doing well and is “a symbol of faith.”
“We hope she is going to freed one day, by the grace of God,” he said, explaining that the ordeal has been difficult for the family to endure, because “we are missing her and she misses us.”
Bibi’s daughter, Eisham Ashiq, told EWTN that she wanted Pope Francis and all of Europe to pray that her mother would be released soon.
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Catholic faithful welcome the strong words, although many do not perceive actions that support such strenuous condemnation. Many of us remain unconvinced. For example, real, live hitmen, Mafia members, in fact all Mafia members were excommunicated by Pope Francis. Then why the withholding of excommunication from Catholic politicians who applaud and legalize government legislation and financial support for abortion, the support for hitmen Planned Parenthood and the like? Why does the Pontiff discourage Catholic prelates who do wish to sanction these politicians? And approve of Archbishop Paglia’s appointment of pro abortion Anglican theologian Nigel Biggar to the Pontifical Academy for Life?. A policy of words sans action that obviously encourages the Catholic laity to vote largely in favor of pro abortion Catholic politicians? If we measure the crime by numbers the aborted infants are infinitely more the victims of murder than Mafia victims. Parity in words doesn’t equate parity in belief, if belief really means to live exactly as we say we believe. Otherwise it’s a lie.
Hope and pray that the Pope’s strong words will further lead him to follow-up with the required strong action in his administration to clean up the Church.
Finally, the Pope is speaking more and more against abortion, and ever more vigorously.
Would that he had done that in the first years of his papacy!!!
The Pope has condemned abortion quite often over the years. I believe that in the early years he might have had a lot of learning to do as a new Pope who had moved in from Argentina.
Mal, re remained silent during the Irish Referendum citing non-interference in internal country affairs. The result was that Catholics perceived he tacitly approved. Then during the US election he openly supported pro-abortion Joe over… interfering and this time with non-tacit approval. Does this resemble honest behavior from a pope, or double-speak from a Free Mason who has a public program but a “hidden” agenda?
Can you prove that our Pope, who is a faithful Catholic and disciple of our Lord, was a freemason? I have seen many such obviously false accusations being made against Pope Francis, and even the Popes before him, and these accusations are kept alive by those who hate Pope Francis.
Catholic faithful welcome the strong words, although many do not perceive actions that support condemnation. Many of us remain unconvinced. For example, Mafia hitmen, indeed all Mafia members were excommunicated by Pope Francis. Then why withhold instruction of the latae sententiae applicability of canon 915 to all Catholic politicians who support even seek to extend abortion? Why does the Pontiff discourage Catholic prelates who do wish to sanction these politicians? And approve of Archbishop Paglia’s appointment of pro abortion Anglican theologian Nigel Biggar to the Pontifical Academy for Life?. A policy of words and no follow-up, except actions that seem to support abortion policy encourage Catholic laity to dismiss doctrine and vote largely in favor of pro abortion Catholic politicians. Parity in words doesn’t equate parity in belief, if belief really means to live exactly as we say we believe.
Pray for wisdom for our Pope that he sees and performs the necessary action to be consistent with his words, and rids the Church of all elements and politicians who support abortion. Give them a chance to renounce abortion and repent. If they do not repent, then they are not Catholics in communion with the Church and, therefore, are not worthy of the Eucharist.
Agreed Ron. I do pray for a just resolution that benefits all.
This second like comment was meant to replace the one above. Ah well, double for the effort. On topic is the challenge of aging and death. Aging is not for the faint of heart (from Thurman Ray Plumlee who wrote Growing Old is Not for the Faint of Heart). Elective euthanasia the easy way out except for judgment and more suffering. Although the pontiff sounds good on the air here, he doesn’t on paper elsewhere. Amoris Laetitia provides the rationale for political expediency based on difficult concrete situations and the primacy of conscience. Moderation, the mitigation of religious rules for sake of societal pluralism. If adultery can be moderately assessed as acceptable why not abortion for the Catholic politician? There is in this an enticing fallacy that subverts [all] revealed moral truth, a religious faux pas. An indiscretion that omits reference to grace, also identified by others in Ch 8. Grace given by Christ exactly to remain faithful within life’s difficult concrete situations. As to growing old I like to look at it other than the cliché a soul trapped in a dying body. Rather an increasingly fine, aging wine ready to be decanted.
It would be interesting to see this latest declaration from the Pope put side by side with another papal soundbite: “I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone.” Let’s wait for the USCCB document coming out this November and check on which one of these statements they will focus their spotlight on or will they give weigh to both? I can’t wait. Even CWR, the rest of the rightist conservative Catholic media, and their constituents, can be weighed in this aspect of their coverage and emphasis of papal tweetable statements to determine their Catholicity, biases, and partisanship.
This is very good news.
(Why is it that with this prelate I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop?)
Those throwaway parts did not go to waste but were in fact essential in the development of the covax
Also euthanasia may one day be our best protection against covid and therefore at that time an ‘act of love’
It’s all coming up roses
Thin gruel.
“treating human life like waste…” Just as Bergoglio did by selling out the Chinese Catholics to their tormentors. Just like he continues to do in embracing the leftist politics of the Democrats Party, globalists, environmentalists, and those who pay homage to the blood stained idol of Pachamama.
Abortion is murder. Murder is evil. Paragraph # 1753 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the end does not justify the means. So, if abortion is murder, and murder is evil, how can an abortion produce the means of a good vaccine for a pandemic? Just asking.
Mal, he remained silent during the Irish Referendum citing non-interference in internal country affairs. The result was that Catholics perceived he tacitly approved. Then during the US election he openly supported pro-abortion Joe over… interfering and this time with non-tacit approval. Does this resemble honest behavior from a pope, or double-speak from a Free Mason who has a public program but a “hidden” agenda? He speaks like a Pope, when there is political gain to be had. In this instance, there are no Stakes at Stake: the referendum passed, Joe was elected.
Dear Pope Francis, your words are encouraging, but they can’t be heard over the din of your, and your hierarchy’s ACTIONS! Don’t expect us to listen to your words and ignore your actions.
Good thing Pope Francis isn’t trying out for Catholic chaplain in a public university.
Are you kidding? Secularists love this guy. Just ask them. A wide range of people hostile to the Catholic faith and to the Gospel LOVE Pope Francis. They are especially good at recognizing double speak and hypocrisy, because they use it themselves.
My allusion escaped you, Timothy.
Timothy – National Catholic Register – English University Accepts Catholic Chaplain Who Tweeted About Abortion.
Cheers.
I am thankful that Pope Francis has spoken out strongly and clearly against the evil that is abortion, and the evil of euthanasia.
Amen. Now that the Pope has once again condemned abortion and euthanasia and declaring that they have excommunicated themselves, it is up to the Bishops and priests to deal with these people as they see fit.
And once again, Francis has taken the easy route by making a public statement that is binding on NO Catholics. In October, he will have a smiling meeting with Biden, and at that time he will say nothing at all about abortion. The emptiness of this papacy is wider and deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Binding on no Catholics? He has made a very clear statement proclaiming that they are EXCOMMINCATED. Just as Jesus called the doctrine-abiding “religious” Pharisees HPOCRITES, without naming a single individual. In fact, our Lord who ate with sinners and drunkards, did not ever condemn a single individual. Why would he? His mission was to SAVE them.
I agree Jesus came to save us sinners. But that doesn’t mean withholding sanctions when needed. As any parent knows, sometimes the most loving thing she can do is discipline her child and/or say “no.” Jesus did give St. Peter and his successors the power to bind. Why give a power if He did not intend it to be used. After N.O. Archbishop Rummel excommunicated local political figures and one mobster for racism, most repented and returned, chastised, to full communion with the Church. He was brave and, IMHO, right. So would be Pope Francis. Not holding my breath, however.