Pope appeals for release of aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan

Published: 2005-06-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed for the release of an Italian aid worker held captive in Afghanistan since mid-May. Speaking to thousands of people from his apartment window June 5, the pope said he wanted to join Italian and Afghan leaders in asking freedom for Clementina Cantoni, who was working for CARE International in Kabul when she was abducted by armed men. "May the painful experience that our sister is living through be a stimulus for searching with every means for peaceful and fraternal understanding between individuals and nations," the pope said. The same day, Cantoni's mother issued an emotional written appeal, pleading with the abductors to free her daughter. She said her daughter loved Afghanistan and the Afghan people and had dedicated the last three years of her life to them.

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