Panama cardinal found alive after missing for two days — police

PANAMA CITY – Jose Luis Lacunza, a Roman Catholic Cardinal who was reported missing for two days, has been found “safe and sound” in Boquete, an area near his diocese in western Panama, the Panamanian police said on X on Thursday.

A video shared on the social platform shows a police officer speaking with the 79-year-old Spanish-Panamanian bishop of the Diocese of David – the country’s senior Catholic cleric – through a car window.

Earlier, prosecutors in Panama have launched an investigation into the possible disappearance of Roman Catholic Cardinal Jose Luis Lacunza, according to a post on X on Thursday.

Lacunza, bishop of the Diocese of David, is the senior Catholic cleric of the largely Catholic Central American country.

Prosecutor Javier Caraballo told reporters earlier that investigators have been sent to the province of Chiriqui, near Panama’s western border with Costa Rica and where the Lacunza’s diocese is based.

Caraballo noted that authorities have conducted interviews to clarify the whereabouts of the cardinal, who was born in Spain, but he did not provide further details.

Officials were formally notified of Lacunza’s possible disappearance on Wednesday night, according to prosecutors.

The Archdiocese of Panama called on the faithful to pray for Lacunza, in a letter published on social media. — Reuters