Pope appeals to Colombia kidnappers

The bishop was on his way to a religious ceremony

Pope John Paul II has appealed for the release one of Latin America's most prominent clerics who was abducted by gunmen near Bogota on Monday.

Jorge Enrique Jimenez, the bishop of Zipaquira and head of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (Celam), was seized along with another priest.

This is a crime against humanity

Army chief General Carlos Alberto Ospina

The pontiff urged the kidnappers to free the two clergymen unharmed and "abandon all forms of violence".

Colombia's army has blamed the main leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia (FARC), for the abduction which is the latest in a long line of attacks on clergy in the war-torn country.

Two gunmen stopped their car around 1000 local time (1500 GMT) on Monday as they were on their way to perform a religious ceremony in the town of Pacho, 55 km (35 miles) north of the Colombian capital.

The clergymen's driver, who was released along with a teacher also in the vehicle, alerted the authorities.

Army chief General Carlos Alberto Ospina said the authorities were offering more than $35,000 for information leading to Bishop Jimenez's release.

"This is a crime against humanity," he said, appealing for national solidarity in the face of the abductions.

Prominent figure

Bishop Jimenez has been president of Celam for two years.

The bishops' conference coordinates church activity in 22 Latin American states which account for nearly half of the world's Roman Catholics.

As well as heading Celam, Bishop Jimenez has served as secretary-general of the Episcopalian conference in Colombia, an overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Originally from Bucaramanga, he is bishop of Zipaquira, just outside Bogota.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to be a priest, with most of the attacks against them being carried out by Marxist guerrillas:

• More than 20 priests and two bishops have been killed in the Colombian civil war since 1989.

• Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali, an outspoken critic of the rebals, was shot dead at point blank range in March as he left a church in a poor neighbourhood - a killing which shocked the country.