Catholics have forgiven Easter church bombers, says cardinal

Bangalore, India, Nov 6, 2018 / 03:24 pm (ACI Prensa).- Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, the priest who was kidnapped in 2016 and held captive for 18 months by terrorists in Yemen, said that his ability to persevere “was thanks to the prayers of everyone” who interceded for him.

“Prayer is the best thing that God has given us and can obtain everything,” he told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency. “Surrendered to the Lord’s will, during my captivity I prayed to the Lord that they would release me soon, but I also asked him to give me the grace to complete the mission that he had planned for me.”

A Salesian missionary, Uzhunnalil first garnered the world’s attention when he was kidnapped March 4, 2016, during an attack on a Missionaries of Charity home in Aden, Yemen, that left 16 people dead, including four Sisters.

His international profile grew when rumors spread that he was to be crucified on Good Friday, which were later discredited. After that, numerous photos and videos were released depicting Uzhunnalil, thin and with an overgrown beard, pleading for help and for his release, saying that his health was deteriorating and he was in need of hospitalization.

The government of Oman and the Holy See had worked for the priest’s release. He was freed Sept. 12, 2017.

In an interview with ACI Prensa the priest recalled the experience he went through in Yemen.

“The churches in Yemen had been attacked and vandalized, but in the days prior to my kidnapping the situation had stabilized somewhat,” he said.

However, on the morning of March 4, 2016, when he was praying in the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, he heard gunshots outside. He saw jihadists killing four of the sisters.

“I prayed for God’s mercy on the sisters who had died and also for those who had killed them,” he said. “They then told me to come outside and asked me if I were a Muslim. I told them no, that I was a Christian. And they put me in the back seat of the car.”

“A little later they opened the door again and threw in something metallic wrapped in some cloth. I knew that it was the tabernacle that the sisters had in the chapel,” he explained.

While Uzhunnalil said his captors did not physically harm him, he did suffer psychological torture.

“They took everything away from me, although they gave me a little water and food,” he recalled.

During that time, they changed his location five or six times, and he said that he never knew the exact location where he was being held.

In the 18 months he was held captive, Uzhunnalil relied upon prayer for perseverance.

“It was thanks to the prayers of everyone who prayed for me that I was able to endure what I was going through. It wasn’t because of my personal fortitude but because of the prayers of my brothers and sisters in the faith,” he said.

Uzhunnalil also relied on personal prayer during his captivity.

“Every day, I prayed the Angelus; three or four Rosaries; an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the sisters who died; the Chaplet of Divine Mercy; I meditated on the Way of the Cross; and I celebrated Holy Mass spiritually – I didn’t have any bread or wine but I said the prayers from memory,” he said.

“I prayed for my captors and I thanked God for the seed of goodness they could have in their hearts. Thanks be to God, I don’t hold any rancor or hatred for them,” he added.

“God knew everything that was happening, because they should have killed me in the beginning, but they didn’t. They kept me alive even though I said I was a Christian. Here I am now, free, to bear witness that God is alive, that he has heard our prayers and has answered us. I have witnessed the power of prayer,” he told ACI Prensa.

After his release on September 12, 2017, he met with Pope Francis, a moment that was “tremendously emotional.” 

“During the meeting with Pope Francis, I cried and I thanked him for the prayers he had prayed for me that he had asked to be prayed for me.”

Uzhunnalil encouraged all Christians who are suffering persecution today to be steadfast in prayer and in faith in God.

The priest currently lives in Bangalore, India, since Yemen is still at war. However, he assures that he is ready to go back to the country “if that’s God’s will.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

CNA Staff, Sep 22, 2020 / 11:30 am (CNA).- A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, has underscored the country’s insistence that Taiwan not be recognized as a sovereign nation in response to a question on the island … […]

CNA Staff, Jul 20, 2020 / 11:10 am (CNA).- Australian Catholic students have sent an open letter to the country’s bishops ahead of the upcoming Fifth Plenary Council of the Church in the country, urging the bishops to remain committed to the Church’s teaching and reject calls for the ordination of women. 

“Many submissions to the Plenary Council have made the laudable recommendation that women be more effectively integrated into the existing governing structures of the Church,” says the letter, which was signed by more than 200 students and alumni associated with the Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA). The lead signatory was the president of the ACSA, Alexander Kennedy. 

“However, it was with great sadness that we note many submissions have called for a change to the very constitution of the Church also willed by Christ,” they added. “We call on the Plenary Council and the Bishops of Australia to reject unambiguously all calls for the ordination of women.” 

The Fifth Plenary Council is scheduled to take place on October 3-10, 2021, in Adelaide, Australia, followed by a second assembly July 4-9, 2022 in Sydney. The dates were pushed back from their original schedule in October 2020 and mid-2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The students’ letter explained that they fully support the respect owed to the roles women play in the Church, but that they, like St. Pope John Paul II and his successors, do not believe that these roles extend to ordination to the priesthood. Instead, they have “wholehearted support for the integration of women into even more prominent roles in areas such as sacred theology, communications, evangelization and (insofar as lay people are able) governance.” 

ACSA Vice President Claudia Tohi added that “This letter expresses our longing to share Christ with others unashamed, with clarity and with the help of our leaders.” 

“Truth,” said Tohi, “is not determined by the mood of the times, nor is it a mere abstract concept. Truth is a person, the Son of God who gave up His life for the salvation of all humankind.” 

The emphasis on the lay vocation, they said, would be “far more encouraging of women than any tokenistic program or power-wrangling we have seen in some of the Plenary submissions.” 

The letter was also critical of certain assumptions about the path young people wish to see the Church take in the coming years. 

“Young people desire an authentic relationship with Christ; this will not be facilitated by a committee,” said the letter. “We believe true reform of the Church will not come from merely shifting resources from one committee to another, but in the rediscovery of, conviction about, and love for the Catholic faith by every Catholic.” 

Some papers have called for what the ACSA letter described as “the dilution of truths of the faith,” which they say “stand to alienate young people and society at large.” 

“Why should anyone take the doctrine and mysteries of Christ and His Church seriously if her members do not,” they asked. 

“We call on the Plenary Council to recommit the Church in Australia to the timeless truths of the Gospel as proclaimed by the Church for twenty centuries,” said the letter. 

[…]