Pope Calls For Release of Italian Priest After Two Years of ISIS Captivity

lt;pgt;Pope Francis has made an urgent appeal to the international community to step up its efforts to secure the release of an Italian priest kidnapped by ISIS in Syria almost two years ago.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;In his weekly Sunday address, given from his balcony in Saint Peter#039;s Square, the pope mentioned the plight of Father Paolo Dall#039;Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest who was kidnapped in Syria on 29 July, 2013, according to lt;a href=quot;http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2015/07/26/pope-francis-calls-for-release-of-priest-and-bishops-abducted-in-syria/quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Reuterslt;/agt;.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Dall#039;Oglio had worked in Syria for more than 30 years and was an outspoken critic of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a supporter of the Arab Spring uprisings. He disappeared from the city of Raqqa, which is now the headquarters of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State (ISIS).lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;In a few days, we will mark the second anniversary since, in Syria, Father Paolo Dall#039;Oglio was kidnapped,quot; the pope lt;a href=quot;http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/angelus-on-the-multiplication-of-the-loavesquot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;saidlt;/agt;. quot;I make a heartfelt and urgent appeal for the freedom of this esteemed religious man.quot;lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Francis also mentioned the Orthodox bishops seized in Syria—a reference to Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazigi, the Greek Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, who were abducted on 22 April 2013 by armed jihadists near the Turkish border in Syria, according to the lt;a href=quot;http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/read-the-words-of-an-orthodox-bishop-kidnapped-in-syria-nearly-two-years-ago-40244/quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Catholic News Agencylt;/agt;.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;I hope for a renewed commitment by the competent local and international authorities, so that these our brothers will soon be restored to freedom,quot; said Pope Francis.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;There are reportedly at least six clergymen being held captive in Syria at present. Clerics represent a valuable target for jihadists — the ransom fee for a kidnapped priest is around $200,000 (€180,806), according to the lt;emgt;lt;a href=quot;http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/july-17th-2015/the-quest-to-find-syrias-kidnapped-priests/quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;Catholic Heraldlt;/agt;lt;/emgt;.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Dall#039;Oglio, a fluent Arabic speaker and campaigner for interreligious dialogue, was the head of the Mar Musa monastery outside Damascus. He was expelled from Syria in June 2012 following criticism of the regime and for holding a memorial service for an opposition filmmaker, lt;a href=quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/syria-expels-activist-roman-catholic-priest.html?_r=0quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;accordinglt;/agt; to the lt;emgt;New York Timeslt;/emgt;. However, he later returned to Syria in July 2013 and lt;a href=quot;http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/07/27/pope-francis-prays-for-jesuit-kidnapped-in-syria/quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;was last seenlt;/agt; calling for peace in Raqqa.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Since his capture, there has been no ransom request released, according to John Pontifex, head of press and information at British-based charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which tracks the plight of Christians affected by the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Pontifex says that the pope#039;s intervention is a timely reminder that Dall#039;Oglio and other ISIS captives are running out of time.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;quot;It#039;s appropriate to sound concerns about his survival, let alone his well-being, because mercy is not the hallmark of Daesh [ISIS],quot; says Pontifex. quot;It goes without saying that they won#039;t hold back, they won#039;t refrain from doing their damndest with these people.quot; He says that the activities of Christian churches and their leaders have been severely limited by the various jihadist groups operating in Syria. In areas of northern Syria under ISIS control, such as Raqqa and Aleppo, priests are unable to move around to minister to their faithful without facing the threat of kidnap or execution.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;Priests and other religious figures are targeted both because of their high ransom value, and their strategic role as community leaders. quot;The priest is very much the head of the community,quot; says Pontifex. quot;If you lop the head off the body, the faithful will inevitably fall away.quot;lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;ISIS are not the only threat to priests in the region. Father Dhiya Azziz, an Iraqi Franciscan cleric who was serving in Yacoubieh in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, was kidnapped on 4 July and later freed on 9 July. The Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, the order to which Azziz belongs, lt;a href=quot;http://www.custodia.org/default.asp?id=779id_n=28930Pagina=1quot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;speculatedlt;/agt; that the kidnappers were members of Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group in control of Idlib. However, the group denied this, and Azziz could have been abducted by one of the many other jihadist sects in the region.lt;/pgt; lt;pgt;According to the lt;a href=quot;http://www.unocha.org/syrian-arab-republic/syria-country-profile/about-crisisquot; rel=quot;nofollowquot;gt;United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairslt;/agt;, more than 200,000 people have been killed and more than one million injured in the past five years of conflict in Syria.lt;/pgt;