One of Latin America's leading bishops was kidnapped as he went to hold a religious service in central Colombia in the latest attack on religious figures in this war-battered nation.
No group claimed responsibility for Monday's kidnapping of Colombian bishop Jorge Enrique Jimenez, but Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina, commander of the Colombian army, blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The abduction occurred in an area where the guerrillas are active.
Jimenez is president of the Latin American bishops conference, an organization of Roman Catholic bishops that determines church policy in the region. The conference's mandate covers the 22 nations of Latin America home to nearly half the world's Catholics.
Jimenez was abducted along with the Rev. Desiderio Orejuela as the men headed to the town of Pacho, 35 miles north of the capital Bogota, for a religious ceremony, fellow clergyman Raul Alfonso Carrillo told Radionet radio station.
Pope John Paul II sent a telegram Tuesday expressing "deep pain" over the abduction, the Vatican said. The note said John Paul was praying that those responsible free the bishop and "abandon all forms of violence."
The FARC has kidnapped a number of high-profile Colombians to push its political agenda. The rebels also kidnap average citizens, using ransom to help finance their insurgency.
Carrillo said he was told of the kidnapping by the men's driver, who was also captured but then released.
The Colombian bishops conference issued a statement warning the kidnappers that they have committed an offense against the Church which warrants "a serious punishment that breaks the communion with the Catholic Church."
The archbishop of Bogota, Pedro Rubiano, said "the seriousness of this crime is incalculable."
Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez called the kidnapping "intolerable" and said authorities were searching for the bishop in the mountains outside of Bogota.
Ospina called on Colombians to help rescue Jimenez, who works at the Zipaquira cathedral just outside Bogota. The army offered a reward of about $37,000 for help in finding him.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, meeting Tuesday in Washington, said leaders were praying for Jimenez.
"Over the past 10 months, I have been touched by the many expressions of solidarity that I have received from him personally," said Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who is chairman of the American bishops' Committee on International Policy. "He is very much with us in prayer."
Earlier this year, the archbishop of Cali was shot and killed after performing a mass wedding in a poor neighborhood. Archbishop Isaias Duarte was an outspoken critic of all sides in Colombia's conflict. Authorities are still investigating the motive for his murder.
In 1999, the smaller leftist National Liberation Army abducted dozens of worshippers from a church in Cali, angering Colombians and church leaders.
Colombia has the highest kidnapping rate in the world, with more than 3,000 people taken hostage last year. Colombians currently being held by the FARC include former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Antioquia state governor Guillermo Gaviria and former defense minister Gilberto Echeverry.
Roughly 3,500 people are killed every year in Colombia's 38-year civil war, which pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against government forces and an illegal right-wing paramilitary force.