Pakistani Christians have denounced the government for excluding Christian representatives from its official delegation to Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration ceremony.
Pakistani Christians have criticized the national government for not including any Christian representatives in the official delegation to the inauguration ceremony of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.
The three-member Pakistani delegation included Yousaf Raza Gilani, a Muslim and chairman of the Senate, Kheal Das Kohistani, a Hindu and State Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, and Ramesh Singh Arora, a Sikh and Minister for Minority Affairs in the Punjab provincial government. The delegation was reportedly chosen by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Christian groups and activists marched on the streets of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, to denounce the omission of a Christian, terming it “deeply embarrassing” for the nation’s estimated three million Christians.
Pastor Amjad Niamat, chairman of the Ecumenism and Interfaith Harmony Commission of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, said the symbolic importance of the Vatican ceremony was lost without the presence of Christian representatives.
