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Christians marched at the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province May 18 in protest of the government’s decision to not include any Christians in its delegation to Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass, according to UCA News.
The Pakistani delegation at the May 18 Mass included Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, who is a Muslim, State Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani, who is a Hindu, and Minister for Minority Affairs in the Punjab Provincial Government Ramesh Singh Arora, who is a Sikh, the outlet states.
Christians at the protest said the omission of a Christian representative is “deliberate,” according to UCA News.
In a contrasting opinion, Mary James Gill, a Christian and former member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, told the outlet that the officials’ attendance of the Mass marked “a diplomatic milestone” and said that criticism of the delegation “undermines interfaith unity.”
Pakistani prelate Cardinal Joseph Coutts, who participated in the conclave, was also at the Mass. On May 18, Gill posted a photo on Facebook of Cardinal Coutts with the delegation, writing that the four were “all representing Pakistan at Pope Leo’s swearing-in ceremony at the Vatican.”
In her statement to UCA News, Gill also noted that no Christian “has since emerged with the diplomatic stature to represent us internationally” after the 2011 assassination of former Minister of Minorities Affairs of Pakistan and Servant of God Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic critical of the country’s blasphemy laws. Bhatti was murdered by members of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
However, the government still could have chosen to have Christian representatives from parliament to be a part of the delegation to the Vatican, according to Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra,the chairman of the Christian political party Massiha Millat. In a statement to UCA News, he questioned why the government did not do so.
The situation, he said, “is part of an ongoing marginalization of Christians in Pakistan.”