"We have not received any information about this and we cannot confirm it, the deputy director of the Vatican press office, Ciro Benedettini, told Adnkronos.

"Obviously, we hope that this case will be resolved positively, as soon as possible."

"There is no confirmation so far of this news" the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement on a report from the al-Ahadath website that Dall'Oglio had been killed.

"There is news that elements belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," said the website, which is close to the Syrian government.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is an Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group operating in Syria.

Opposition sources told Adnkronos International on Friday that text messages allegedly sent to an opposition activist from Dall'Oglio's mobile phone claimed he was kidnapped by The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Daily protests calling for Dall'Oglio's release have been held in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa since the priest disappeared there on July 28.

Italy's foreign minister Emma Bonino said on Friday that Rome was "groping the dark" as the mystery surrounding Dall'Oglio's fate deepened.

Sources

ANSAMed/

AKI/adnkronos

AFP/Al Arabiya

Image: AFP/Al Arabiya

"We have been receiving various reports that turn out to have no substance and which often appear aimed at derailing the investigation," said Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.

"We are dealing with warring groups," Bonino said, referring to the case of Paolo dall'Oglio who disappeared in the city of al-Raqqa on July 28.

"We are groping in the dark really," Bonino added.

Syrian activists earlier claimed that dall'Oglio was abducted by fighters from the Al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Bonino earlier said dall'Oglio is in the hands of "a local version of Al-Qaeda."

The Jesuit has lived in the country for 30 years, spending most of that time rebuilding an abandoned sixth-century monastery called Deir Mar Musa, turning it into a center for Muslim-Christian friendship.

Sources

adnkronos

NCR Online

Image: CNS/NCR Online

• Pope Benedict XVI used his Sunday Angelus address to call for peace in Syria and to urge the government there to respect "the legitimate aspirations" of its citizens. "I renew an urgent appeal to the Syrian authority and population, for peaceful coexistence to be restored as soon as possible and for an adequate response to the legitimate aspirations of the citizens, respecting their dignity, and for the benefit of regional stability," the Pope told pilgrims gathered at his summer residence August 7.
• Another Jesuit, Father Samir Khalil Samir, a Vatican Arab scholar says "In reality, most Syrians are just fed up." He thinks that even if a change in government creates the possibility of producing an Islamic regime, the West should embrace the need to oust the Assad regime.
• President Bashar al-Assad and the protesters seeking to bring him down seem locked in a mortal and painfully protracted struggle, says Margot Patterson in the London Tablet "But time is not on the side of the regime. The economy is crumbling, the regime is increasingly isolated by the international community, its credibility shredded both inside and outside the country, and the opposition is becoming better organised."

Source

• The Vatican Insider
• Catholic Culture
• The London Tablet
• Image: Time to Liaise