Pope praises Pakistan peace and solidarity initiative
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| Pakistani Christians take part in a service for the victims of a suicide attack at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore in 2017.- AFP |
In
comments to Polish speaking pilgrims at the weekly General Audience on
Wednesday, Pope Francis noted that on Sunday 28th October the Church in Poland
celebrates the 10th Day of Solidarity with the persecuted Church.
By
Lydia O’Kane
In
his words, the Holy Father thanked both the Pontifical Foundation "Aid to
the Church in Need" and the Polish Episcopal Conference for organizing
this initiative of peace and solidarityand said that this year’s
financial support would be donated to Christians in Pakistan. According
to Aid to the Church in Need, for Christians in Pakistan “oppression is a daily
reality”, and they are often put under pressure to abandon their faith.
Education
and job prospects
Speaking
to Vatican News, the Head of Press and Information at ACN in the UK, John Pontifex
said that, “the important thing to say about the position for Christians in
Pakistan is that they really are second class citizens”.
He
added that their “whole job prospects are very very limited” and that the
education system in Pakistan has been “accused of being very prejudiced against
Christians; that there’s a whole systemic problem of hatred of Christians in
schools”.
Mr Pontifex pointed out that amid growing extremism, Christians and other minorities inevitably are considered to be “in grave risk of attack or indeed even being killed…”
Addressing the issue of the Blasphemy laws in the country, he said, that on the “flimsiest of pretexts they (Christians) can be accused of either disrespect towards the prophet Mohammad or indeed disrespect somehow to texts containing verses of the Koran”.
Mr Pontifex pointed out that amid growing extremism, Christians and other minorities inevitably are considered to be “in grave risk of attack or indeed even being killed…”
Addressing the issue of the Blasphemy laws in the country, he said, that on the “flimsiest of pretexts they (Christians) can be accused of either disrespect towards the prophet Mohammad or indeed disrespect somehow to texts containing verses of the Koran”.
Asia
Bibi
Arguably
the most high profile case of a Christian being accused of blasphemy is that of
Asia Bibi, a Catholic mother of five who was arrested in November 2010 and
sentenced to death. In July 2015 the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended her
death sentence pending an appeal. As she awaits a final appeal hearing, people
around the world continue to pray that she will be released from jail.
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