From CNN:

MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) — A Catholic archbishop has been released one day after he was kidnapped in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the Vatican confirmed Tuesday.

No ransom was paid for the release of Basil George Casmoussa, a spokesman for the Vatican in Rome said. There were reports that the kidnappers used his cell phone to demand a $200,000 ransom for the 66-year-old archbishop.

The thought of what may have happened if they had actually killed him gives me shivers. Any illusion that this is not a religious war would have completely disolved. The term “Mass Riots” would have taken on new meaning. Of course, that just may be my Jesuit education on one too many cups of pure Kona coffee mingling with the fact that I just finished “The DaVinci Code” this weekend.

May be the smartest thing I’ve seen a terrorist do in years.