for jailed on public
prelate view
Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, the former Melkite-rite patriarchal Archbishop in Jerusalem, who spent three years in an Israeli prison out of a 12 year sentence for smuggling arms to Palestinian guerrillas, has been ordered on a roving assignment to Latin America by the Vatican.
The Vatican issued the announcement after the Pope met briefly with Archbishop Capucci and Patriarch Maximos Hakim of Beirut, Archbishop Capucci's immediate superior.
Archbishop Capucci would be "visiting Greek Catholic Melkite communities in several countries of Latin America," the Vatican said. The archbishop was released last month after the Pope had sent a letter to Mr Ephraim Katsir, the Israel President, asking for Archbishop Capucci's freedom on humanitarian grounds. It is understood that the Pope gave the Israeli government an implicit guarantee that the Archbishop would henceforth play no part in Middle East politics but would take up new duties elsewhere.