Kabul priest says kidnapped Clementina will soon be free

The Catholic priest based at the Italian Embassy says hope in the imminent release of the young Italian aid worker is "well founded".  Benedict XVI asked to call for her release.

Kabul (AsiaNews) – Hopes at the Italian Embassy are high but also "well-founded" that Clementina Cantoni will soon be released.  Monsignor Giuseppe Moretti, head of the sui iuris mission in Afghanistan told AsiaNews that "authoritative sources are hopeful that the young lady will soon be freed."  Kabul's priest, pastor of the country's only Catholic church – the one located inside the Italian Embassy – says that there is much activity at the Embassy, but the atmosphere is one of "great hope".

 Yesterday, Msgr. Moretti asked diplomatic contacts in Italy to contact the relevant ecclesiastic authorities about the possibility of Benedict XVI calling for the aid worker's release during his general audience today, "as the Servant of God John Paul II used to do."  "I don't know if my wish will be granted," Msgr Moretti said, "but as the shepherd of the tiny Catholic flock in Afghanistan, which includes Clementina, I felt it was my duty to make this request in all humility."

 Clementina Cantoni, who works with CARE International, was kidnapped Monday evening after armed assailants stopped her care in Kabul's centre, taking her away aboard a white Toyota.

 Yesterday, Italian Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, announced that Miss Cantoni is well and that authorities have made contact with her kidnappers.  According to an Italian Embassy official, the abductors, very likely a group of common criminals, have also contacted Afghan authorities. (MA)

• Afghanistan
• clementina
• cantoni
• kidnap
• crime
• randsom
• islam
• catholic
• church