I write to you publicly here as a scandalised Catholic.
Yesterday, you entered into the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and you prayed alongside a Mufti. While I cannot know your prayer or what was in your heart. you have created a scandal by bowing your head and praying silently inside a hall of a religion that denies the Most Holy Trinity, denies the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, denies His all-atoning Sacrifice and denies His bodily resurrection.
Later, you attended the Hagia Sophia, the ancient Cathedral of Byzantium which was stolen by the Mohammedans, desecrated and now sits as a museum. While there, the Muslim call to prayer rang out -- prayer to a false god.
Is there any coincidence that after you invited and prayed with an Imam in the Vatican, all hell broke loose in the ancient land of Chaldea, Ur and Babylon where we have seen people beheaded, children cut in half and churches burned.
Our sister, Asia Bibi still languishes in a jail in Pakistan. She is sentenced to death.
Holy Father, you need to speak out. You need to speak out publicly to the Government of Pakistan and to the Islamic world to free our sister Asia, to free the 200 girls in Nigeria and to stop the violence against Christians and all peoples.
No more Holy Father; no more bowing to those who worship a false god.
You must defend the faith.
You must defend our sister Asia. You must use the full weight of the Holy See's diplomacy to rescue our sister Asia. If the Pakistani Government refuses your diplomatic overtures then you must go public and proclaim for the world to hear that our sister must be set free.
To do less, will cause her blood to scream out from the ground for vengeance and her blood will be on all of those who sat by while this crime is committed.
May your eyes be opened.
Sincerely,
Pakistan/Aleteia (Aleteia.org/ar) – Asia Bibi, the Christian
woman who has received the death penalty for being accused of blasphemy made an
appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice in her country to change her sentence.
Her sentence is considered “unfair” and excessive in light of the insufficient
evidence and weakness of the testimonies against her.
On the 16th of October, the Supreme Court in Lahore rejected
the appeal that Bibi’s attorney submitted to overturn her imminent death
sentence. According to the Italian news agency, ANSA, Bibi’s husband wrote a
letter to the Pakistani president, Mamnoon Hussain, asking him to pardon her
and allow her to leave the country and go to a neutral country like France.
The most significant charge against Aisa Bibi is that she is
Christian; for which she has been languishing in prison for five years.
According to the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, she sent a letter on the 27th of
October to Pope Francis asking him to pray on her behalf and to aid her on a
spiritual level.
From her prison cell in Multan, Asia Bibi has become a
symbol of the struggle for religious freedom in the world. The mother of five
children who was sentenced to hang in late October told Pope Francis, “I know
that you are praying for me with all your heart. I am hopeful that thanks to
your prayers I might be free one day. I sincerely thank you in the name of God
Almighty that you are close to me.”
What is Asia Bibi’s crime?
Asia Bibi, who is 50 years old, has received the death
penalty for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammad. The Supreme Court of
Pakistan last October 16th confirmed the earlier ruling in 2010 that she
receive the death sentence for blasphemy. Bibi’s lawyer, Sardar Mushtaq told journalists
that there were no more options remaining except to use the time that she has
left to help remove this bitter cup from her.
Asia Bibi was arrested after a group of Muslim women from
her town informed a cleric that she had made offensive comments about the
Prophet after an argument over trivial matters.
Anti-blasphemy laws are being used against enemies
Human rights advocates on a global level have demanded that
the law pertaining to blasphemy in Pakistan be changed. It is worth noting that
this law was issued by the military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1980.
Human rights experts have criticized the existence of laws
that condemn those who speak negatively about the Quran or the Prophet Mohammad
to prison for life or are given the death penalty. They state that these laws
are being used to achieve personal gain in disputes with enemies or those with
whom they have a problem.
This article was originally published in Aleteia’s Arabic
edition. It was translated by Donald Puhlman.
1 comment:
I have been praying for Asia Bibi for five years but missed this update. Thank you.
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