Father Thomas Uzhunnalil Not Crucified by ISIS but Alive and 'Safe,' Indian Minister Says
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said Catholic
priest Tom Uzhunnalil, who was previously feared to have been crucified by the
Islamic State on Good Friday, is alive, safe, and efforts are being organized
for his release.
Catholic Bishops'
Conference of India spokesman Father Gyanprakash Topno told the Press Trust of India that
Swaraj met with CBCI delegates and told them that reports claiming Uzhunnalil
has been killed are not true.
"Father Tom is safe and efforts are on for his release as
early as possible," Topno said, conveying the minister's words, adding
that the "government will facilitate the priest's safe return to India."
Uzhunnalil was kidnapped back in March after Islamic extremists
raided a Missionaries of Charity-run retirement home in Aden, Yemen, where they
killed 16 people, including four nuns.
Initial reports that
the Catholic priest had been killed stem from a statement made by the
Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, but other Church officials,
including Bishop Paul Hinder of Southern Arabia, said that there are
"strong indications that Fr. Tom is still alive in the hands of the
kidnappers."
"Cardinal Schönborn has already corrected his statement which
he had made on the basis of the wrong statement of Archbishop Moras in
Bangalore. Certain media in India are too nervous and curious and not aware
that they are playing with the life of Fr. Tom. I cannot say more for the
reason I gave in my first sentence (to protect the life of Fr. Tom),"
Hinder said last week.
IS has kidnapped thousands of men, women and children across Iraq,
Syria, and the surrounding regions, including many Christians and other
religious minorities.
Back in March, the United States and several other Western
countries officially designated IS' targeting of minorities and its persecution
of Christians as "genocide."
Despite delivering new hopes for Uzhunnalil's release, Swaraj said
that she will be unable to give further details about the situation.
Some Congress members in India have called on the central
government to do more to protect Christians.
"So ISIS allegedly
crucified Father Thomas Uzhunnali &BJP gov't did nothing. Why because he
was a Christian?Mr. PM he was also a fellow Indian (sic)," Congress member
Manish Tewari said, addressing the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, while it was still believed that the priest had
been executed.
Vatican leader Pope Francis previously said that he had been left
"shocked" by the attack on the retirement home in Yemen.
"His Holiness Pope
Francis was shocked and profoundly saddened to learn of the killing of four
Missionaries of Charity and 12 others at a home for the elderly in Aden,"
Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said at the time.
"He sends the assurance of his prayers for the dead and his
spiritual closeness to their families and to all affected from this act of
senseless and diabolical violence," Parolin added.
People all around the world who believe in world peace should
arise and pray for it. Together we can achieve world peace … together we can
stand and defeat the evil called terrorism.
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