IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy of Salesians
By
BANGALORE, India (CNS) — The
Salesians have organized a special prayer meeting to mark the one-year
anniversary of the kidnapping of Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil.
The priest was kidnapped in Aden,
Yemen, March 4, 2016, in an attack in which four Missionaries of Charity and at
least 12 others were killed.
“We are deeply distressed by the
delay in assuring his release,” the Salesians of Bangalore province said
in a statement reported on by the Rome-based Salesian news agency, ANS.
Father Uzhunnalil had been
living at the home for the elderly and disabled since September 2015, when Holy
Family Parish in Aden was sacked and burned.
After the attack, Pope Francis
described the Aden murders as an “act of senseless and diabolical
violence.”
Bishop Paul Hinder,
head of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, told Catholic News Service
March 28 that he had “strong indications” that Father Uzhunnalil “is
still alive in the hands of his kidnappers.”
The prayer service at Ernakulam
Town Hall will be conducted with the collaboration of the Catholic bishops’ conference of the state of Kerala, ANS reported. It said prominent church
leaders, including at least two cardinals, were expected to attend.
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