VATICAN CITY (CNS): A Catholic archbishop was freed unharmed in Mosul, Iraq, less than 24 hours after he was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.
Syrian Rite Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul was released on January 18.
Pope John Paul II thanked God for the happy ending to the ordeal, and the Vatican said no ransom was paid for the prelate’s release.
Church officials said it was unclear whether the abduction was directed against the Christian community or was part of the general criminality in Iraq.
Archbishop Casmoussa, 66, told Vatican Radio after his release that his captors had treated him well and freed him soon after they discovered he was a Catholic bishop.
The Vatican originally condemned the kidnapping as a “terrorist act”, but after the archbishop’s release Church officials seemed more inclined to attribute it to the proliferating number of abductions for ransom in Iraq.
Archbishop Fernando Filoni, who is the Vatican’s nuncio in Baghdad, said it was difficult to say whether the kidnapping was part of a wave of terrorism before the national elections to be held this weekend or simply “an episode of common criminality”.
