Pakistan Catholics counter persecution with hope, says bishops’ human rights director

PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) — As Pakistan’s religious minorities continue to face rights violations, that nation’s Catholic bishops are fostering hope the faithful can live out their faith with confidence.

“Everyone should have this right,” said Father Bernard Emmanuel, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lahore and national director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, the human rights body of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference.

On June 21, Father Emmanuel shared with OSV News his insights on religious freedom for Catholics in Pakistan, amid a two-week visit to the U.S. to raise awareness of the CCJP’s religious freedom development projects.

Those initiatives, which broadly work to strengthen the faith and witness of Pakistani Catholics, are being rolled out as Pakistan continues to battle intolerance of religious minorities.

In its September 2025 update on Pakistan, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the U.S. State Department to redesignate the Southeast Asian nation as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to “its systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.”

The USCIRF report cited attacks on “Ahmadiyya Muslims, Hindus, and Christians,” all of whom are religious minorities in Pakistan, where more than 95% of the population identifies as Muslim, with 85.5% of that share Sunni Muslim.

In particular, said USCIRF, “recent reporting from human rights groups demonstrates that Pakistani authorities use the blasphemy law to entrap both Muslims and non-Muslims.”

First introduced under British colonial rule, blasphemy laws were substantially expanded in the 1980s to specifically protect Islam, as Pakistan’s majority religion, from a wide range of direct and indirect affronts.

The “misuse” of the legislation occurs when it is invoked for “grudges” and “revenge,” creating circumstances that are “very difficult,” said Father Emmanuel, speaking to OSV News before a Mass for local Pakistani Catholics at St. William Parish in Philadelphia.

Yet, he stressed, Pakistan’s bishops are ensuring that the faithful can deepen their commitment to Christ despite such challenges.

The efforts are grounded in “the idea of hope,” Father Emmanuel said.

He explained that Catholics located in the northern and remote areas of the nation often experience particular difficulties “just to keep their religion.”

The CCJP is nurturing “leaders” to help Catholics “face all these difficulties and problems at the local level,” said Father Emmanuel.

Among the CCJP resources offered are trainings and research, including regular reports on human rights for religious minorities, especially women and girls.

In the field, those trained by the CCJP begin by approaching families and developing a rapport.

“We have youth activities; we start with games,” said Father Emmanuel. “Or maybe we start with puzzles; small things. We go to just have a conversation with them, and gain their trust.”

He added the commission is “slowly, slowly” seeing “the fruit of all these activities, the trainings and the sessions.”

“They grow in faith,” Father Emmanuel said. “They used to feel, ‘There is no one who can help us,’ but now they do approach us. People are gaining trust and faith.”

And, he said, parents have taken the initiative in this regard.

“They help the children to understand that this is their faith, and you must form them in the faith,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”

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