Iraqi bishop says kidnapped priest returned unharmed

Published: 2007-05-23

ROME (CNS) -- After three days in the hands of kidnappers, an Iraqi Chaldean Catholic priest was released shaken, but healthy, a Rome-based missionary news agency reported. Father Nawzat Hanna, a pastor in Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood, was released late May 21. He had been visiting a sick parishioner May 19 when he was seized by a group of men who apparently had been waiting for him. Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told AsiaNews that he had been given the location of "a place in the city" where he would find the priest at about 9:30 p.m. May 21. "When he saw me, Father Nawzat embraced me tightly, cried and was very shaken; then he thanked everyone who had prayed for him," Bishop Warduni said. Speaking May 22, the bishop said, "I hope he has the courage to continue serving the church in Iraq. His family already has moved abroad, but he had chosen to remain here, to remain at the side of his faithful." The AsiaNews report did not say what finally led to the priest's release.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .