US EditionIn Syria, Doubts Raised About Discovery of Body Said to Be that of Kidnapped Priest
- On June 3, 2025, church officials in Syria announced the possible discovery of remains in a mass grave near Raqqa, which may belong to Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, though the identification has not yet been confirmed.
- The announcement followed years of uncertainty since Dall’Oglio’s kidnapping by ISIS in Raqqa in July 2013, but key church leaders stressed the news is unconfirmed.
- Bishop Antranig Ayvazian said specialists identified the body in Furusiyya cemetery, while Cardinal Mario Zenari and Bishop Hanna Jallouf urged caution and awaited DNA confirmation.
- Disputing the discovery, local forensic official al-Salman and Francesca Dall’Oglio, the priest’s sister, declared no exhumation occurred and criticized prior fake news reports.
- Investigations and forensic analyses continue amid lingering doubts, highlighting the challenge of identifying remains in conflict zones and the global hope for resolution.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Jomana Solman, project manager of the Syria Justice and Accountability Center, clarifies to AsiaNews that no body has been recovered from the areas where the Roman Jesuit was abducted in 2013. The organization continues to work on the mass graves in the northeast of Syria, but the identification of the remains is complex and expensive. The recent spread of false news has fueled the hopes of the families of the disappeared.
According to Syrian radio FM Al-Balad, a specialized commission of Qamishli has arrived in Raqqa and proceeded to the exhumation of the body. Sister: "fake news." The bishop: "No certainty"
The man's body was discovered in a mass grave near Raqqa. Italian Paolo Dall'Oglio has been missing since 2013 since he travelled to the region to negotiate the release of hostages.
Bishop says contacts with embassy,nuncio on Dall'Oglio body - General News
A Syrian bishop who says that the body of Jesuit Father Paolo Dall'Oglio has been found in a mass grave in Syria, where he disappeared in 2013, says that contacts are ongoing with the papal nuncio and the embassy to verify the discovery. (ANSA)
The corpse of a man in religious clothes was found in a common grave near Raqqa. The advance news from the weekly newspaper "Today," which quotes the bishop of Qamishlie. She picks out the local sources, her sister: "For me it is not him"
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