Catholic missionaries in Pakistan share the gospel and free Christians from slavery

Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 24, 2024 / 7:00 am

There are young people who are called to serve in dangerous places, not only in the military but also as missionaries. This final call has been answered by a select few who are willing to go where faith has been suppressed or even absent for centuries.

Project Omnes Gentes is a Catholic missionary initiative of the Order of Saint Elijah, based in Argentina, to share the Gospel for the first time with countries that do not know Christ. It organizes short-term missions to the most remote places, including Malawi, Pakistan, Tibet and Yemen.

CNA interviewed missionaries who recently returned from Pakistan, where they freed nearly 200 Christians from slavery. Rico and Diego are not further identified because of the danger it poses to them and persecuted Christians.

Diego, a young lay Spaniard recently converted to the faith, courageously takes on one of the most dangerous missions the order has undertaken to date. “Since my conversion about five months ago, I have felt a great need to spread the Gospel,” he told CNA.

Recalling his conversion, he said that as he left Mass as an unbeliever, he suddenly felt an “oppressive presence, like an immense and heavy blanket.” Diego cried to God for help.

“After letting God be a part of my life again and multiplying its value exponentially, I couldn’t stay silent, I had to go on a mission. With the Order of St. Elijah I could do that. “I couldn’t be more grateful to God for bringing them my way and helping them preach the Gospel,” he said.

Diego accompanied Rico, a priest of the order, to the Punjab region of Pakistan, a country dominated by Islam. International Christian Concern reports this, At least a thousand girls and women in that country are kidnapped, raped and forced to convert to Islam every year. According to a report by InfoVaticana, about 700 of them are Christians. Many are forced into forced labor or domestic slavery.

Father Rico told CNA: “Thanks to God and the Blessed Virgin, the mission achieved its goals. We rescued five illiterate female sex slaves who were raped by four different men for ten years. When the rapists started looking for them, we were able to hide them. We also rescued 75 debt slaves, including people who were being tortured and many little girls. We ‘bought’ them with the money a bishop gave us.”

“After the rescue operations, we help them with what they need to survive. We want to start a small safe neighborhood for freed slaves – why not dream that ‘nothing will be impossible with God,’” he said, quoting Luke 1:37. The new Christian enclave, he said, will be called “Pax,” Latin for “peace.”

It was no coincidence, Father Rico said, that he began his work on the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, on August 15, and ended on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, on September 12. a few months to free more.

“Of the 80 freed slaves, six Christian families had fallen into unwilling apostasy because they had denied Christ and become Muslims,” he said. “The men were tortured and the women raped during the process. When we went to rescue them, they said they were sorry. Those families were Protestant Christians.” He was under almost constant surveillance by Muslim informants, whose testimony could have meant death.

“We saw the malevolence so extreme that it could not have been merely human malevolence. I think it was some supernatural, demonic evil. How else can it be explained that they drug a man to rape his wife and kill the baby resulting from the rape through an abortion?” said Father Rico.

He added that he hopes to consult Catholic psychologists and social workers to help the freed slaves heal. “Above all, we will place the victims before the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,” he said.

The priest said the unbaptized and Protestant Christians were asking for access to full communion with the Catholic Church. He baptized according to the traditional Rituale Romanum, which includes several exorcisms.

“We gave them pictures of the Holy Family, Bibles and rosaries. We celebrated Holy Mass for them and put them in touch with a priest who will catechize them. They entered the Catholic Church full of joy,” he said.

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“Seeing the Holy Spirit perform such miracles, and seeing how Christians choose death over renouncing the faith, united me to the mystical body of Christ on levels I could not have imagined,” Diego said. “It is truly overwhelming to talk to these persecuted Catholics about their conversions, their faith and their experiences. I am sure that many of those who live through that hell will earn heaven.”

According to a 2023 report from WalkFree, About 10 in 1,000 Pakistanis are involved in forced labor. In other words, 2.3 million Pakistanis are subjected to forced labor or forced marriage. The nonprofit watchdog says Pakistan ranks 18th in the world and fourth in Asia for these practices. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that forced labor is notable in brickmaking, carpet weaving, mining, and agriculture.

Pakistan’s Christians are often targeted by Muslims and authorities for violating the country’s strict Islamic blasphemy laws, which ban denouncing Islam and its founder, Mohammed. In September, Aid to the Church in Need reported that a Pakistani woman, mother of four, had been sentenced to death for the alleged crime.