The Islamic State committed a grisly Good Friday commemoration, crucifying a Catholic priest.
The Rev. Thomas Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest, was kidnapped in Yemen in early March during a raid on a nursing home run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
His execution by the Islamist sect, using the same method used by the Romans on Jesus and marked on Good Friday every year, was confirmed at the Easter Vigil Mass by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna.
Father Uzhunnalil was a native of India and had been the object of both prayers and diplomatic efforts since the March 4 raid where 16 Christian nuns and nurses were killed.
Bishop Paul Hinder, who heads the Catholic Church in Yemen, said the Missionaries home had been the object of numerous threats but they refused to leave.
Pope Francis already had honored the slain nuns as martyrs.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/27/isis-crucifies-catholic-priest-good-friday/
Thiruvananthapuram, March 28 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's office was on Monday flooded with phone calls from across the world wanting to know the fate of Catholic priest Tom Uzhunnallil who was abducted by the Islamic State terrorist group in Yemen, an official said.
The official who did not wish to be named told IANS that various agencies like the UN, Vatican and the FBI were among those working hard to rescue Uzhunnallil and were confident of bringing back the priest from his kidnappers.
"We have various other sources in Yemen, Aden and other Catholic institutions and we are confident of his release. All the calls that I am getting are from the international media and well wishers of the priest.
"Till this moment, we have no reason to disbelieve our sources and our mission is on the right track," the official said.
Chandy is reaching Delhi later on Monday and is expected to call on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
On Saturday morning, Sushma Swaraj had tweeted that they were trying to rescue Uzhunnallil.
"Fr Tom Uzhunnallil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yemen. We r making all efforts to secure his release," she wrote.
Earlier this month, militants barged into a care home for the elderly set up by Mother Teresa in Yemen's Aden in 1992, and shot dead many people, including four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, among whom one was from India.
The militants abducted the Kerala priest and there has been no information about him ever since.
ഇതൊക്കെ കേമപ്പെട്ട പ്രവര്ത്തികളായി മുസ്ലിംകള് കരുതുന്നുണ്ടോ? പാശ്ചാത്യ ലോകം ഇസ്ലാമിക് രാജ്യങ്ങളില് ക്രൂരക്രുത്യങ്ങള് ചെയ്യുന്നു എന്നത് ശരി തന്നെ. പക്ഷെ അതിനു നിസഹായരെ കൊല്ലുന്നതാണോ പരിഹാരം? ക്രിസ്ത്യാനിയായ ഗവര്ണറെ കൊന്നവനെ പാകിസ്ഥാന് തൂക്കിലേറ്റിയതിനു അവിടെ പ്രക്ഷോഭം നടന്നു വരുന്നു.
മനുഷ്യനു ചിന്താ ശക്തി നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടോ? എല്ലാ കിത്താബുകളിലും ക്രൂരതയെ അംഗീകരിക്കുന്ന വാചകങ്ങളുണ്ട്. കാഫിറിനെ കൊല്ലാമെന്നു പറയുന്നതും അത്തരത്തിലൊന്നാണു. ഒരു കാലഘട്ടത്തിലെ അത്തരം വാചകങ്ങള് ആണോ നാം സ്വീകരിക്കേണ്ടത്? അതോ മത വിശ്വാസത്തിന്റെ സത്ത കണ്ടെത്തി നല്ല മനുഷ്യരാവുകയാണോ വേണ്ടത്?
പതിന്നാലാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിലെ ഒര് ചക്രവര്ത്തിയെ ഉദ്ധരിച്ച് മുന് മാരപാപ്പ ചോദിച്ചു, ഇസ്ലാം മതം ലോകഠിനു പുതുതായി എന്തു നല്കിയെന്ന്.
In Orlando, Islamic academy s Wednesday class I Attended, only to walk out after the young instructor blamed America for intervening in the Kuwait war. I wrote to the Imam there later but no response. The leaders of the Islam , as Pope himself once said, can and must Stop the terrorists. But young instructors as I witnessed are here justifying cruelty on Christian social workers, and commenting on eating beef, or pork. Trump as president can stop it, with no more aid for Arab countries, get our own oil here, stop all immigration of Imams to America for safe, luxurious life and no loyalty. In Orlando, a group sued the Islamic center.