Indian Salesian Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen more than a year ago, has pleaded in a video message for the Indian government and the Church to do more to secure his release. The video was posted on YouTube by the news site Aden Time.
The heavily bearded and very thin Fr Uzhunnalil is shown seated with a cardboard sign in his lap with the date April 15, 2017. A similar video was posted in December.
An official at the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, which includes Yemen, said the person in the video is the kidnapped Salesian, but he would not comment further. Bishop Paul Hinder, the apostolic vicar, was away from the vicariate headquarters in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on a pastoral visit.
Fr Uzhunnalil was kidnapped in Aden on March 4, 2016, in an attack in which four Missionaries of Charity and at least 12 others were killed at a home for the aged.
In a meeting earlier this month with Salesian novices studying in Italy, Pope Francis once again offered prayers for the kidnapped priest.
In the new video, Fr Uzhunnalil began by stating his name and date of birth and thanking “my dear family people” for their messages of concern, which he said he had received.
Without describing his captors or referring to them as such, he said, “They are treating me well to the extent that they are able.”
“My health condition is deteriorating quickly and I require hospitalisation as early as possible,” he added.
Fr Uzhunnalil said his captors had contacted Indian government authorities “several times” and the replies, which he said he had seen, were “very, very poor”.
“They also contacted the bishop, bishop of Abu Dhabi,” he said. “There, too, the response was not encouraging. Neither the bishop nor the Indian government authorities ask them what they really want to get me released.
“It is a poor response, and I am sad about that,” the priest said.
Asking his family and friends to pressure the authorities, he said: “Please, please, do what you can to get me released. May God bless you for that.”
Callista Gingrich ‘to be new US ambassador to Vatican’
Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, will be Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the Holy See, two US news outlets have said.
The New York Times and CNN reported that the official announcement was pending approval from the Office of Government Ethics.
Callista Gingrich, 51, a former congressional aide, is president of Gingrich Productions, which produces documentaries and other materials. In 2010, the company released Nine Days That Changed the World, about St John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Poland and its role in the fall of communism.
Mrs Gingrich is also a long-term member of the choir at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Some criticised the expected appointment because Mrs Gingrich admitted to having a long affair with Mr Gingrich while he was married to his previous wife. After his 1999 divorce, the two married the following year. Mr Gingrich has since sought an annulment of the previous marriage.
He became a Catholic in 2009, saying that Callista, a lifelong Catholic, was instrumental in his conversion.
Knights’ leader promises reform
The newly elected leader of the Order of Malta has said he recognises the need for change, in what he called “one of the most challenging times in its history”.
Fra’ Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto said in a video message: “The Order of Malta has grown beyond all expectations in the last decades. But with this growth comes much greater responsibility.” He said the order needed to “amend” certain rules and “strengthen governance”.
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