An Italian priest from the Rome
diocese was kidnapped yesterday in Nigeria, sources said Friday,
adding that the foreign ministry's crisis unit has 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,
with Islamist terrorists Boko Haram suspected.
Sources said the priest, Florence-born Father Maurizio Pallù,
who will be 63 next Wednesday, was stopped with four other
people on his way to Benin City in southern Nigeria yesterday.
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.
Pallù 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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