Asia Bibi has chickenpox; she is weak but still fasting

ASIA/PAKISTAN - 

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) – Asia Bibi, the Christian woman from Pakistan condemned to death for blasphemy and currently in jail, recently contracted chickenpox with spots all over her body and it is not known who gave her the illness. It is thought to be due to the lack of hygienic conditions in the jail and her dirty clothes and bedsheets. This has weakened her condition substantially. She was already suffering from months in isolation in jail. 

The Masihi Foundation, via Fides, issues an alarm: “Now more than ever she needs medical intervention. We are trying to organise this with jail officials. We are truly concerned about her health, that she could deteriorate and die in prison.” Asia, according to her lawyers, should be halting her Lenten fast, given her weakened state. “She prays and fasts a lot, offering her sufferings up to God. We hope that doctors may be able to convince her to start eating well again,” explains Haroon Masih, Director of the Masihi Foundation to Fides.
Meanwhile many around the world continue pray for Asia Bibi and her release. A Franciscan convent of cloistered nuns in Toledo (Spain), an order founded by the St Beatriz de Silva), began a prayer campaign. Sister Mary Immaculate, abbess of the monastery, wrote in a message to Fides: “We are following the case of Asia and we are praying for her and her family, but also for all those who have died to defend her. We are happy that the Holy Father is taken by her cause. We pray that the Lord may grant the grace to Asia to meet the Pope. We pray to God wholeheartedly that one day she may embrace her family.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 7/4/2011)

ASIA/PAKISTAN - Shahbaz Bhatti among the “new witnesses to the faith”, an example for “Christians in politics”

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Shahbaz Bhatti has been named among the “new witnesses to the faith”, in a solemn prayer vigil last night in Rome in the church of St Bartholomew on Isola Tiberina, organised by the Sant'Egidio community. The church in fact is dedicated to the “new witnesses to the faith” and houses relics of the martyrs of the faith of modern times, from all continents. During the celebration, the Bhatti's personal Bible, in the Urdu language, was placed on the altar dedicated to the martyrs of Asia and Oceania. The celebration was presided at by Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, the newly-elected President of the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan, and Paul Bhatti's brother, Shahbaz, currently Special Advisor for religious minorities to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The prayer vigil was preceded by a meeting entitled “Shahbaz Bhatti, a life of dialogue and co-existence in Pakistan”, and was attended by Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, Bishop Coutts, Paul Bhatti and the Imam of the Great Mosque in Lahore, Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azaz. The Muslim leader, who speaks every week to thousands of faithful Muslims, stressed the need “for friendship between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan.” Bishop Coutts said that “today is the time for Pakistani Christians to follow in the footsteps of Bhatti, in his mission to defend religious freedom and harmony.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 6/04/2011)

 

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