Exactly two years after Italian
Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio was taken captive in Syria, the
city of Rome on Wednesday showcased a giant photo of the peace
activist in front of City Hall to express solidarity and demand
his release.
Dall'Oglio was born in Rome exactly 61 years earlier.
The photo was on display throughout Wednesday in front of
the Campidoglio's Sistus IV entrance.
On Sunday, Pope Francis made an appeal for the release of
the priest during his Angelus service.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella a day later said Italy
was doing its utmost to free Dall'Oglio and four other Italians
who were taken hostage in Libya this month.
According to unconfirmed reports earlier this year,
Dall'Oglio was in a prison run by militant Islamist group ISIS
between Raqqa and Aleppo in the north of Syria.
A staunch promoter of inter-faith dialogue, the Jesuit
founded the al Khalil community in Syria in the 1980s at the
Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian in the town of Nabk,
north of Damascus.
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