Christians in Pakistan suffer series of brutal attacks
January 10, 2026
The Vatican newspaper reported on a series of recent attacks on Christians in Pakistan.
Journalist Paolo Affatato recounted:
- the December 5 murder of a Presbyterian pastor by a hitman in front of his daughter, “to stop his preaching of the Gospel”
- “In the following days, the list of violence cases included Saira, a 14-year-old Christian girl, kidnapped and raped by a group of men, and little Shumaila Masih, 6, attacked in a school.”
- “A heartbreaking cry then rose from the community of Sheikhupura, a city in the Punjab province, where Najma, a 12-year-old Christian girl, was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, brutally abused, and then abandoned on the street.”
- “In Balochistan, Laiba Patras, a 20-year-old Christian domestic worker, resisted an attempted sexual assault by her employer, but instead of receiving justice, she faces a fabricated charge of theft.”
- “Another Christian woman, Aqsa, was indicted after resisting a man who wanted to marry her.”
“We have witnessed a series of horrific attacks against Christian minors,” said Father Lazar Aslam, OFM Cap, director of the Justice, Peace and Human Rights” Commission in Lahore. “Some incidents are reported and come to light, but many others remain hidden because the families live under threat of death and overwhelming social shame.”
“The very wounds that cry out for justice,” said Father Aslam, “strengthen our faith, calling us to reinforce our spiritual life, fraternity, and mission of peace in the nation. This is why meetings, initiatives, and celebrations for Christmas and the closing of the Jubilee Year have had a profound meaning of faith and hope for us.”
Islam is the official religion of the South Asian nation of 257 million (map), the fifth most populous in the world. 95% of Pakistan’s people are Muslim, 2% are Christian, and 1% are Hindu.
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