On Wednesday, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order to which he belongs. The pope paused to remember those Jesuit priests who had given their lives in service of their faith. “I’m thinking of Padre Paolo,” he said.
At the moment, no one in the room knew if Father Paolo Dall’Oglio was still alive.
Two days before the pope’s prayer, Father Paolo, an Italian Jesuit priest associated with the Syrian opposition, had been seen walking the streets of Raqqa, a rebel-controlled area in northern Syria. Then he disappeared. Activists reported that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a militant group affiliated with al Qaeda, had kidnapped him. Contradicting reports soon emerged. Had Father Paolo been kidnapped, or had he purposefully met with the group to negotiate the release of hostages and to broker a truce between Kurds and Islamic extremists fighting in the north?
One thing is certain: No one has heard from him since.
Read it all (if needed another link may be found here.).
As far as I can find, the Orthodox bishops kidnapped several months ago are still missing. The latest information I can find is dated June 28.
http://www.aina.org/news/20130628135748.htm
Lord have mercy.
It is a bitter irony that Christians seem to fare better [less worse?] under the dictators [Hussein, Assad] than their opponents.
This kidnap and other events show the folly of those Western governments who were, until very recently, alarmingly keen to arm the rebels. Our own UK Foreign Secretary William Hague was a prominent cheerleader. When I met a high-placed Syrian dignitary visiting the UK recently he described Western policy towards the rebels as ‘Machiavellian’ and thoroughly condemned proposals to arm them.
While ignoring the reasons for the rebellion, am I right?