Vatican City, Jan 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The Vatican press office announced with relief and satisfaction today that, “we learned of the release of Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul who had been kidnapped yesterday afternoon.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, made the declaration today upon learning of the release in Iraq of the kidnapped Syrian Catholic archbishop.
"The Holy Father”, he said, “was immediately informed and he thanked God for the happy outcome of this affair.
"The kidnapping caused great surprise because the archbishop was well loved by both Christians and Muslims."