WASHINGTON--Cardinal Bernard Law, Chairman of the International Policy Committee, U.S. Catholic Conference, issued a statement deploring the arrest of Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Cardinal also sent a letter to Ambassador Edith Grace Ssempala at the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda in Washington urging that the government of Uganda use its influence to gain the immediate release of the Archbishop and the safe return to his diocese.

"The Holy Father has called the arrest of the archbishop a 'grave violation that painfully injures all Catholics,'" Cardinal Law said. " He also prayed for the quick return of the Archbishop 'to the flock that has been entrusted to him.' Cardinal Etsou, Archbishop of Kinshasa, has denounced the arrest of the archbishop, insisting that 'Bishop Kataliko did not incite people to ethnic hatred and to violence,'" Cardinal Law said.

Cardinal Law's statement and his letter to the Ambassador from the Republic of Uganda.

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