Fate of Kidnapped Catholic Priest Uncertain After Reports Suggest Islamic State Crucified Him on Good Friday

After a week of mass carnage, the Islamic State terror group has been named responsible for yet another atrocity against an innocent victim. The Washington Times reported that on Good Friday, March 25, the Islamic extremist group crucified a Catholic priest.

According to the Times, Thomas Uzhunnali, a 56-year-old Indian Catholic Salesian priest, was brutally murdered on the Christian holy day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans.

However, since the Times' report, Catholic News Service's Rome bureau chief, Cindy Wooden said in a tweet Monday that Bishop Paul Hinder, head of the Catholic Church in Yemen, had "strong indications" Uzhunnalil was still alive.

Reports of Uzhunnalil’s death allegedly emerged at an Easter Vigil Mass held by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna.

Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that the government had been trying earnestly to rescue the priest.

“Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yemen. We r making all efforts to secure his release,” Swaraj tweeted Friday before Uzhunnalil's execution was reported.

Uzhunnalil, a native of India, was kidnapped in Yemen earlier this month during a raid on a nursing home run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, where he served as a chaplain, India TV reported.

The Times claimed that 16 nuns and nurses were killed during the March 4 raid. Bishop Hinder said the charity had received numerous threats but its volunteers refused to leave. Pope Francis has since honored the victims as martyrs.

TheBlaze will update this report as more information becomes available.

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