Pope reaches out to Pakistan bomb blast victims
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
"The Holy Father is praying for the people who are suffering and ... personally wanted to send them his good wishes."
By John
Pontifex
NEW
YORK—Victims of the Easter Sunday Pakistan bomb blast have
received a personal message of sympathy from the Pope. Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore described
how he was going from bed to bed visiting the wounded in a local hospital when
he received a call on his mobile phone from Vatican officials who said that they
had received a message from Pope Francis.
In
an interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the
Catholic Archbishop Shaw spoke of his “delight” to receive the phone call about
the Pope’s message, which was conveyed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal
Pietro Parolin.
Archbishop
Shaw said: “There were so many wounded and others we wanted to see and I was
getting very tired and then I suddenly got this phone call from the nunciature in
Islamabad [the Pakistan capital].”
“I
was told that the Secretary of State had phoned the nunciature to say that the Holy
Father is praying for the people who are suffering and that he personally
wanted to send them his good wishes.”
“I
have to say it was a very timely call. There were more than 100 people I was
visiting and they were so pleased to know that the Pope had them in mind – not
just the Christians but the Muslims too. Many Muslims were also victims of the
blast.”
Reflecting
on his visits to the wounded in Lahore’s Sheikh Zaid and Jinnah Hospitals, Archbishop
Shaw said: “It was very, very difficult to console them. We had no words to
offer them.”
![Archbishop Shaw visits a victim of the terror attack in Laho](../images/content/pagebuilder/Archbishop_Shaw_visits_a_victim_of_the_terror_attack_in_.jpg)
He
described one family including a woman who had lost her husband and a child in
the blast and whose other children, aged four and six, had been badly injured.
Archbishop
Shaw said: “The woman herself was injured and she was not able to take part in
the funerals of her husband and child.”
The
archbishop, a Franciscan, also stated: “One mother lost her two children and
husband. “She was a guest and came to Lahore from Sanghar. The mother will go
back to her home without her husband and children. [There are] no words to
console her.”
He
added: “In this
depressing and traumatic situation we are still preaching and consoling our
faithful with the words of Jesus after the Resurrection: ‘Peace be with you.’”
Pakistan is a priority
country for Aid to the Church in Need,
which supports victims of persecution as well as Mass stipends for priests, support
for Sisters, training for seminarians, catechesis and other Christian education
including Child’s Bibles, Catholic media and evangelisation work and
construction of churches.
Archbishop Shaw visits a bombing victim; photo courtesy Catholic TV Pakistan
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