{"id":500877,"date":"2025-04-11T07:18:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T11:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?guid=634b892b891f29e628f1ba43b85585c9"},"modified":"2025-04-11T23:24:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T03:24:28","slug":"catholic-priest-kidnapped-in-ethiopia-sparks-concern-in-the-vatican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/500877","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Priest Kidnapped in Ethiopia Sparks Concern in the Vatican"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HARAR, ETHIOPIA \u2013 The abduction of Father Habtewold, a Catholic priest serving under the Apostolic Vicariate of Harar, has alarmed Ethiopia\u2019s Catholic community and drawn attention from the Vatican. Kidnapped on March 23, 2025, in the Oromia region, the priest remains in captivity, deepening fears for his safety.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_501099\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-501099\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Apostolic-Vicar-of-Harar.jpg?resize=780%2C401&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"780\" height=\"401\" class=\"size-full wp-image-501099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Apostolic-Vicar-of-Harar.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Apostolic-Vicar-of-Harar.jpg?resize=800%2C411&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Apostolic-Vicar-of-Harar.jpg?resize=768%2C395&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-501099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Apostolic Vicar of Harar Rev. Angelo Pagano and Cardinal Berhaneyesus of Addis Ababa &#8211;  file photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Father Habtewold was traveling by motorbike when armed individuals seized him along with 12 others. While the others were released, sources close to the Church report a ransom of approximately 800,000 Ethiopian birr (about USD 6,060) was paid, yet the priest has not been freed. The Church has not officially confirmed the payment, and the kidnappers\u2019 identity remains unverified, though some suspect involvement of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a group active in Oromia.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop Angelo Pagano of Harar, in a statement to local media, said, \u201cNone of the kidnappers have contacted me or my priests.\u201d He noted ongoing efforts to locate Father Habtewold, with the priest\u2019s family also seeking answers amid growing distress.<\/p>\n<p>The kidnapping underscores security challenges in Oromia, Ethiopia\u2019s largest region, where the OLA &#8212; formerly the armed wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) &#8212; has clashed with government forces.  <\/p>\n<p>As the Church prays for Father Habtewold\u2019s release, his case highlights the risks faced by religious leaders in Oromia\u2019s volatile landscape.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HARAR, ETHIOPIA \u2013 The abduction of Father Habtewold, a Catholic priest serving under the Apostolic Vicariate of Harar, has alarmed Ethiopia\u2019s Catholic community and drawn attention from the Vatican. Kidnapped on March 23, 2025, in the Oromia region, the priest remains in captivity, deepening fears for his safety. Father Habtewold was traveling by motorbike when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":501099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Apostolic-Vicar-of-Harar.jpg?fit=1024%2C526&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-26iF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500877"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501098,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500877\/revisions\/501098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}