VATICAN CITY, Oct 10 — Pope Francis today met a Colombian nun who was freed after being kidnapped by Islamist militants in Mali four years ago.

The Vatican said in a statement that Francis met Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez in St. Peter’s Basilica just before he celebrated Mass there to open a two-year worldwide consultation on the Catholic Church’s future.

The Mali presidency announced her release yesterday but the timing and other details were not clear.

Kidnapping has been a lucrative source of cash for Islamist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region, where they are waging an expanding insurgency against national armies, French forces and UN peacekeepers. — Reuters