Pope Francis has thanked His Majesty Sultan Qaboos and the Government of Oman for helping in the rescue of Father Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian priest, who spent 18 months in captivity in Yemen.
According to Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis, said, “The Holy See fervently thanks all those who worked for the release, and especially His Majesty the Sultan of Oman and the competent authorities of the Sultanate.”
Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted by armed men in Yemen and held captive for more than a year, was released and brought to Muscat after a successful mediation by the authorities in Oman on a request from Vatican.
A Salesian missionary, Fr Tom first garnered the world’s attention when he was abducted on March 4, 2016, during an attack on a Missionaries of Charity home in Aden, Yemen, that left 16 people dead, including four nuns.
Upon his release, the Salesian priest “expressed thanks to God Almighty and appreciation to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. He also thanked his brothers and sisters and all relatives and friends who called on God for safety and release.”
Born in Kerala, India, the 56-year-old priest had been serving in Yemen for the past four years as a chaplain to the nuns.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India also expressed its thanks to His Majesty and the Government of Oman.
“We express our gratitude to His Majesty the Sultan of Oman for his untiring efforts for the release of Fr Tom”, the Conference said.
The priest in his comments to L’Osservatore Romano remarked that he would continue to pray “for all those who were beside me spiritually,” and offered a special word of remembrance for the 16 people who died during the attack in which he was kidnapped.
On his arrival in Vatican on Wednesday, Fr Tom shared an emotional meeting with Pope Francis.
While the priest appeared with an overgrown beard in the majority of photos published during his time in captivity, Wednesday’s pictures showed him clean-shaven and dressed in clerical clothes.
In a letter on Wednesday, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Major Rector of the Salesian order, said Fr Tom arrived in Rome on Tuesday directly from Muscat.
SAMUEL KUTTY
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