Father Maurizio Pallù, an Italian
priest kidnapped in Nigeria last week, has been freed, Foreign
Minister Angelino Alfano told Radio capital Wednesday.
Alfano said Father Pallù was "well".
Alfano said "during the course of the night the foreign
ministry crisis unit communicated to me the liberation of Father
Maurizio Pallù, the missionary who had been kidnapped in
Nigeria.
"We await him in Italy soon".
Alfano said "according to what his Neocatumenal brothers also
say, he is travelling to Abuja.
He said that while some things may have changed since last
night, "the information we have is positive".
Sources at the Rome Vicariate also confirmed Father Pallù had
been freed.
Floremce Mayor Diego Nardella called it "splendid news" while
former Florence mayor, ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD)
leader Matteo Renzi echoed that sentiment, phoning Florence
Archbishop Giuseppe Betori to send his best wishes.
Father Pallu', 63 today, was kidnapped at Benin City in
southern Nigeria last week.
He phoned his mother Sunday night to tell her he was well and
would be released "in a few days", Vatican Insider reported
Monday.
Laura Pallu', 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 Pallu', 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 been all but ruled out.
Sources said Florence-born Pallù 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 Pallù.
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