Vatican City, Sep 13, 2017 / 11:25 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Just one day after being released from 18 months of captivity, Indian priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil shared an emotional meeting with Pope Francis, saying that throughout his time as a prisoner, he offered his suffering for the Pope and the Church.
According to a Sept. 13 article published in the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the encounter took place at the Pope’s residence in the Vatican’s St Martha guesthouse immediately after the general audience on Wednesday.
Photos of the encounter show an emotional scene as Fr. Uzhunnalil bends down to kiss the Pope’s feet, after which the Pope tenderly gives the priest his blessing.
While Fr. Uzhunnalil appeared with an overgrown beard in the majority of photos published during his time in captivity, today’s pictures show him clean-shaven and dressed in clerics.
According to L’Osservatore Romano, Fr. Uzhunnalil thanked the Pope, saying “(I) prayed for you every day, offering my suffering for your mission and for the good of the Church.” These words, the newspaper reports, moved the Pope to tears.
A Salesian missionary, Fr. 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 Fr. 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.
In comments to L’Osservatore Romano, Fr. Uzhunnalil said he couldn’t celebrate Mass while in captivity, but “every day inside, in my heart, I repeated the words of the celebration.”
The priest remarked that he would continue to pray “for all those who were beside me spiritually,” and offered a special word of remembrance for the 16 people who died during the attack in which he was kidnapped.
He also offered thanks to the government of Oman, in particular Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, and to the Holy See for their role in brokering his release.
On his part, Pope Francis embraced Fr. Uzhunnalil and told him that he would continue to pray for him, as he had every day while the priest was imprisoned. Visibly moved, the Pope then gave the priest his blessing, L’Osservatore Romano reported.
Accompanying Fr. Uzhunnalil was Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and a member of the Pope’s Council of Cardinal advisers.
In comments to L’Osservatore Romano, the cardinal said that after this “terrible experience, the essential message that Tom is about to convey is that ‘Jesus is great and loves us.’”
He recalled the words of the priest, who after being released said, “Truly, every day I felt Jesus next to me, I always knew and felt in my heart that I was not alone.”
In a Sept. 13 letter, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, Major Rector of the Salesian order, said Fr. Uzhunnalil arrived to their community around 6 p.m. Sept. 12, having flown to Rome directly from the Muscat airport in Oman.
He said Fr. Uzhunnalil will stay with them for a few days in order to ensure that he has medical treatment and time to rest, and also “to be able to embrace him in the name of all brother Salesians and the entire Salesian family.”
Artime said that while they were aware that discussions were underway with the priest’s kidnappers, the community did not know that Fr. Uzhunnalil had been freed until he was already on his way to Rome.
He stressed that “the Salesian Congregation was not asked for any ransom payment,” and said they are unaware of any payment that may have been made to ensure Fr. Uzhunnalil’s release.
The rector offered his thanks to the various parties involved in securing Fr. Uzhunnalil’s release, as well as all those who kept the priest in their prayers.
Fr. Uzhunnalil’s freedom, he said, “is a motivation to continue to respond in the future with utmost fidelity and authenticity to the call and to the charism he has entrusted to us, and to which Fr. Tom has given his life: the announcement of Jesus and his Gospel, preaching to young boys, girls and youth throughout the world, among them, the poor and abandoned.”
In a separate article published on the Salesian Information Agency, it was noted that after his arrival, one of Fr. Uzhunnalil’s first requests was to pray in the Salesian community’s chapel in the Vatican, and to celebrate Mass.
Due to the necessity of immediate medical examinations, he was not able to celebrate Mass right away, but he asked if he could go to confession before the medical staff arrived, since he not had the opportunity while in captivity.
The article says Fr. Tom was treated to a traditional Indian meal later that night. In sharing his experience with the community, the priest said he never once felt that his life was in danger, and that at one point, his captors provided medicine for his diabetes.
No official date was given for when Fr. Uzhunnalil will return to India, however, he is expected to go back to Kerala within a few days.
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I will consider nothing that Leo writes until he apologizes to the entire Catholic Church for backing Cupich’s move to bestow honors on a politician who did everything in his power to advance the cause of abortion in the USA.
I feel your hate.
Unlike that duplicitous footnote to chapter 8 to Amoris Laetitia, might we hope that the possible papal ghostwriter notes a real compass point? Not morally subversive (nor an alleged evasion from temporal desperation), but recalling theological and personal hope in the whole Christ, such as:
“Evangelization will also contain—as the foundation, center and at the same time summit of its dynamism—a clear proclamation that, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all men, as a gift of God’s grace and mercy [fn—Cf. Eph 2:8, Rom 1:16]. And not an immanent salvation, meeting material or even spiritual needs, restricted to the framework of temporal existence and completely identified with temporal desires, hopes, affairs and struggles, but a salvation which exceeds all these limits in order to reach fulfillment in a communion with the one and only divine Absolute: a transcendent and eschatological salvation, which indeed has its beginning in this life but is fulfilled in eternity” (Paul VI, the apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi,” on the 1975 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, n. 27).
I will consider everything Leo writes because he is my Pope, the Vicar of Christ.
“Vicar of Christ” Wasn’t that the papal appellation that Bergoglio rejected for himself?
That would be a good first start, followed by a second apology for meeting, encouraging, and supporting James Martin, SCH. We probably shouldn’t hold our breath waiting.
Dilexi te. If indeed you love me, keep my commandments (Jesus in Jn 14:15).
As reported by Pew Research only 9% of Roman Catholics believe in the Most Blessed Trinity. On the face of it that means 91% of those describing themselves as Roman Catholics aren’t.
Emergency for Pope Leo. There are many many who can deal with the poverty issue besides the Pope. The Pope, on the other hand, is perhaps the only voice who can call attention to the tragedy that 91% of self-identified Roman Catholics are deprived of the truths of the Faith.
What will the Pope do? If the current pontificate — which resembles more the Cupich-by-proxy pontificate — it would appear this disaster will be overlooked. Not quite relevant?
Are you referring to this March 2025 Barna Research poll? It’s apparently a “research report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University [that] shows that only 11% of American adults, and only 16% of self-proclaimed Christians, believe in the trinity.” I’ve looked at it, and have questions. The methodology is not clear at all. The language is a bit strange; for example: “How Demographic Segments Perceive the Trinity (Percentage who believe in the existence and human influence of each Person of the Trinity)”. What does “human influence” refer to here? The Second Person of the Trinity, who is fully human and fully divine by virtue of the Incarnation, has “human influence”, but how does this apply to the Father and the Holy Spirit. In addition, we read: “Less than half as many Catholics (9%) are trinitarians.” Well, most Catholics don’t use the term “trinitarian” to describe themselves, even though it’s accurate. My guess is that some respondents were confused by the questions, which don’t appear to be available. Bottom line: as poor as catechesis often is, I have a really hard time believing that only 9% of Catholics say they believe in the Trinity.
And reportedly, some seventy-five percent of Catholics deny the Real Presence.
Dilexi te.
Tough love or empathy?
The Way of the Cross or cheap grace?
Is there anything new to say about the poor? – if that is what the
exhortation is about. Perhaps we should get back to the basics of
the faith, to the commandments, to basic morality. Many people are
searching for meaning and purpose in life. Another sermon about
the poor doesn’t address the deepest questions humans have.