Vatican City - Pope John Paul II yesterday made a "heartfealt appeal" to Sardinian kidnappers to release northern Italian businessman, Mr Giuseppe Soffiantini, abducted seven month ago.
"To those who are keeping our brother prisoner for such a long time, I make a heartfelt appeal to restore him, in the name of God, to the arms of his loved ones," the Pope said during his weekly address to pilgrims in St Peter's Square. Mr Soffiantini (62), a textile merchant from Brescia, was seized at gunpoint from his home last June. Four of the suspected kidnappers were arrested in October after a shootout with police that left one officer dead.