Tauran condemns 'barbaric' killing of Christian couple in Pakistan

UCANEWS.COM

A Vatican official has spoken out to condemn the barbaric killing of a Christian couple earlier this week in Pakistan. Shehzad Masih and Shama Bibi were killed by an enraged crowd in Pakistan after a Muslim religious leader unjustly accused them of blasphemy.

“I am shocked by the immense barbarity of this act,” said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

“When something this barbaric happens, one is naturally left speechless,” he said. “What is even more serious is the specific reference to religion. No religion can justify crimes of this kind. The blasphemy law presents the problem of whether the international community should intervene. On the one hand, people’s religious beliefs must be respected but it is also important to show a minimum amount of humanity and solidarity. I therefore believe that there should be an insistence on dialogue; one can never stress this enough. The more delicate a situation is, the more dialogue needs to be driven home.”

When asked whether it was possible to ask the UN to intervene, the cardinal said: “I ask myself how can one stand by and watch when crimes [that] religion declares to be legitimate are committed?”

He pointed out that “there have been approximately 60 executions since 1990, the year when the blasphemy law came into force. And this does not just affect Christians, other minorities are also targeted: lawyers who oppose the regime, for example, are also barbarically killed. So we are faced with a big problem.”

In answer to a question about the lack of a response from the government regarding the denunciations and the possible complicity of the police and the courts, the Cardinal said: “There is definitely connivance. I don’t know to what extent. In any case, however, I am of the opinion that that this kind of behavior must be publicly condemned, above all so that our Christians feel that there is solidarity from the Church, which is their family.”