Father Maurizio Pallù, a
62-year-old Italian priest kidnapped at Benin City in southern
Nigeria last week, phoned his mother last night to tell he was
well and would be released "in a few days", Vatican Insider
reported Monday.
The alleged release has not been officially confirmed.
Laura Pallù, 92, made the phone call public during a prayer
vigil for her son's release in the parish of Santa Lucia La Sala
in northern Florence.
Father Pallù, a priest from the Rome diocese, was kidnapped
Thursday in Nigeria, sources said Friday, adding that the
foreign ministry's crisis unit had already been
alerted and the Rome prosecutor's office anti-terror unit has
opened a probe.
The foreign ministry said no effort was being spared in the
case, in a "dutiful" framework of confidentiality.
Rome prosecutors are investigating a suspected terror crime,
judicial sources said. While Islamist terrorists Boko Haram were
initially suspected, they have since be all but ruled out.
Sources said the priest, Florence-born Pallu', who will be 63
on Wednesday, was stopped with four other people on his way to
Benin City.
They were stopped by an armed group that stole all their
belongings and abducted the priest who has been on a mission to
Nigeria for three years.
Pallu' graduated in history before setting off as a lay
missionary around the world, for 11 years.
In 1988, when his father died, he joined a Rome seminary and
in 1991 was ordained as a priest.
Two years later, spent working as a chaplain, he was sent to
the Netherlands.
The Rome diocese said it was praying for his liberation.
Florence Archbishop Cardinal Giuseppe Betori said he was
following the case with "apprehension" and urged people to pray
for Father Pallu', a priest in the
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