Kidnapped Archbishop freed after Pope's appeal

A CATHOLIC archbishop kidnapped in Iraq has been freed without payment of ransom, the Vatican said yesterday, after the Pope appealed for his release.

The bishop, Basile Georges Casmoussa, said he thought that Pope John Paul II’s strong appeal was a "decisive factor" in his release a day after the abduction by an unknown group in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The pontiff, who had prayed for the bishop’s freedom, was informed immediately of the release, said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

"He changed his prayer to one of thanks," he said. A ransom of 100,000 had initially been demanded but the bishop was released without the payment of any money, the Vatican said.

The Most Rev Casmoussa, 66, is from the Syrian Catholic Church, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican had branded the abduction a "despicable terrorist act".

"I am truly, and, like a son, grateful to the pope, by whom I felt strongly supported in this very new situation for me," the Most Rev Casmoussa said on his release.