Bossi assigned to Parañaque

MANILA, Philippines – Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi has been assigned to a new post far from Zamboanga, the province where he was kidnapped nine months ago.

He is now assistant priest of a parish in Parañaque City, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced yesterday.

Bossi is the new parochial vicar of Mary Queen of Apostles Parish in Barangay San Antonio Valley, according to Fr. Baumbusch Steven, his superior in the Pontipicho Instituto Misioni Esteri (PIME) or Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

“Bossi will arrive here in two weeks from Zamboanga City,” Steven said.

The American priest, who has been serving as parish priest for the last three years, said Bossi would help him out in the parish for one year. By February 2009, his next assignment will be decided.

Steven, who will be transferred to PIME seminary in Tagaytay City by February next year, will now have two assistants, Burmese Fr. Ngairi Robert and Bossi.

Bossi quietly arrived in Zamboanga City last March 25 after months of vacation in Italy.

Fr. Roberto Brillantes, who replaced Bossi at the San Pablo Parish, said Bossi made a visit to his former parish where he received a ceremonial welcome on March 26.

Bossi had wished to build a convent and a church for the community at Payao.

Bossi, who was kidnapped by unidentified armed men near his parish in the remote Payao town in Zamboanga Sibugay on June 10 last year, returned to the country last January, or five months after going home on vacation and meeting with the Holy Father after his release from kidnappers on July 19 last year.

The 67-year-old missionary from Milan was seized near his parish and held in the jungles along the border of southern Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur by his abductors, supposedly rogue elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He was later released following a series of military operations. Church and government authorities denied paying any ransom for his release.

Bossi, who speaks Cebuano and Chavacano, is presently staying at the PIME Regional House in Tabujur, Zamboanga City.

There are currently 21 PIME missionaries in the Philippines. One of them, Fr. Luciano Benedetti, who was kidnapped in 1998, is now working with the indigenous people in Western Visayas.

Founded in Italy in 1850, PIME is a Society of Apostolic Life of priests and laymen who dedicate their lives to the mission among non-Christians on five continents.

In the Philippines, PIME missionaries work in the dioceses of San Jose de Antique, Dipolong, Imus, Kidapawan, Parañaque, Zamboanga and the Prelature of Ipil.

Authorities have repeatedly cautioned foreign missionaries to be extra careful when on missions in remote areas of Mindanao.