Seth Udinski, FISM News

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In the midst of the chaos in Afghanistan, a Roman Catholic priest showed true heroism in loving “the least of these” last week.

Father Giovanni Scalese, a 66-year old Italian priest serving in Afghanistan, led 14 disabled Afghan children and several nuns out of the region to safety in Italy. The priest helped the children reach an airport and board a plane headed for Rome, even though some were confined to wheelchairs. Christendom hangs by a thread in the radical-Muslim dominated region, so the mere fact that Scalese was even able to serve there is something of a miracle. The fact that he saved several disabled children amidst a Taliban takeover is even more miraculous.

The priest and the children arrived safely in Rome on Wednesday. He said afterward,

We thank the Lord for the success of the operation. I thank all of you who in these days have raised incessant prayers to Him on our behalf, prayers that were obviously fulfilled. Continue to pray for Afghanistan and for its people…I would never have returned to Italy without these children. We could not leave them there.

Scalese has dedicated his ministry to the people of Afghanistan, and he is hopeful he will be able to return one day.

If one day we will once again have the chance to be present and continue our pastoral work and our social work for the poor, then why not?! But for now, we can and we must especially pray for peace.