” “"I’d say it was an extremely emotional climate": with these words, speaking from the Vatican Radio Station, father Federico Lombardi, director of the newsroom of the Holy See, described the audience that was granted today in Castelgandolfo by Benedict XVI to Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician who was abducted on February 23rd 2002 by the guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and released on July 2nd this year, after over six years of imprisonment. "Ingrid recalls father Lombardi during the news bulletin was so looking forward to this meeting with the Holy Father, she said that as soon as she had been released, and that’s because the time of her imprisonment was for her a time of great spiritual experience, of prayer, so she really also wanted to speak to the Holy Father about how important faith had been in supporting her during such a difficult ordeal". Another reason for the meeting is that she wanted to thank the Pope "for his prayer, for his sympathy, for the many signs with which the Pope had expressed his thought and his spiritual support to all the hostages, in particular of course to her as well". (continued)” “
