A 32-year-old Indian missionary who was abducted in Ethiopia due to a mix-up in identities was freed 24 hours later and returned safely to home.
Father Joshua Edakadambil was stopped by rebel soldiers on January 21, when he was on his way to offer Mass in a mission station.
According to Bishop Varghese Thottamkara, 62, Vicar Apostolic of Nekemte in Ethiopia, an armed group abducted the priest and held him hostage in the wilderness.
After the Catholic Church negotiated his name, the rebel forces who kidnapped the priest for mistaken identification released him.
Father Thottamkara told Matters India that the priest is in excellent health and has returned home.
Father Edakadambil of the Order of the Imitation of Christ is a native of Kerala who has spent the last two years in Ethiopia's Nekemte Apostolic Vicariate, which is directly under the Vatican. Ethiopian Orthodox, Islam, and Coptic Catholics all have adherents in the vicariate's area.
