Christmas Message to Maddie: 'Be Brave'

Dec. 21, 2007— -- The parents of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old British girl who disappeared from a resort in Portugal where the family was on vacation, released a video today telling their daughter to be brave.

"Our only Christmas wish is for you to be back with us again," Gerry and Kate McCann said in the three-minute video, which also included three clips of the little girl filmed last Christmas.

The parents, who Portuguese police named official suspects in the case, make a direct appeal to whoever might have kidnapped the girl to release her and end the family's "despair and anguish."

Kate McCann speaks directly to her daughter to encourage her during her ordeal.

"Madeleine, it's mummy and daddy here. Just know how much we love you, Madeleine," she says. "We all miss you so much.

"Sean and Amelie talk about you all the time every day. We're doing everything we can, Madeleine, to find you and there are so many good and very kind people helping us. Be brave sweetheart," she says.

"Our only Christmas wish is for you to be back with us again and we're hoping and praying that that will happen," she tells her. "Love you Madeleine."

Madeleine, or Maddie as so many have come to know her, vanished from the family's holiday apartment in the resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 while her parents -- both doctors -- were having dinner 100 yards away in the same holiday compound.

Almost immediately, a huge publicity campaign went into gear, with celebrities including author J. K. Rowling and soccer player David Beckham appealing for help in finding the little girl, who has a distinctive black mark in the iris of her right eye.

The McCanns toured Europe to raise awareness of the case. They even had an audience with the pope. They gave dozens of interviews, as press and TV teams from around the world documented their every move.

"'Please, please continue to pray for Madeleine," Kate McCann cried during one television appeal.

"We are doing absolutely everything to assist the police with their investigation, and we will leave no stone unturned in the search for our daughter," her husband Gerry said.