Father Bossi gets emotional welcome from parishioners

MANILA (AP) - An Italian priest held for over a month by Muslim rebels got an emotional welcome Wednesday from his parishioners in Mindanao, where a feast was laid out and townsfolk hugged him in tears.

Giancarlo Bossi, 57, visited Zamboanga Sibugay province's Payao town for the first time since Muslim rebels snatched him there on June 10. He was freed last Thursday.

Bossi traveled to Payao to thank his parishioners for their prayers and thoughts while he was held in the jungle by reputed rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group engaged in peace talks with the government.

Police have denied a ransom was paid for the priest, who has worked in the country since 1980 and had just been reassigned to Zamboanga Sibugay.