Yousaf Benjamin

A ground-breaking ceremony for a new church in Baldia Town, Karachi, and the inauguration of a completed church in Faisalabad this past week marked two parallel milestones in the Church’s ongoing expansion across Pakistan.

Archbishop Khalid Rehmat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to around 185 children at St. Padre Pio Catholic Church in Mehar Town, Lahore, northeastern Pakistan, on May 3, 2026. Seven priests and sisters from the Apostolic Carmel concelebrated the Mass, attended by nearly 3,000 faithful.

Through its diocesan office, Caritas Pakistan distributed food bags to 100 Christian families at Depalpur, in the diocese of Faisalabad, on May 3, 2026.

Archbishop Khalid Rehmat inaugurated a cricket tournament organized by the Archdiocese of Lahore on May 1, bringing together young players from parishes across Lahore.

In a joint statement issued on April 29, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (PCBC) and its human rights arm, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) have welcomed the Punjab Assembly’s passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026.

On April 28, Archbishop Khalid Rehmat inaugurated the Silver Jubilee year celebrations of a Catholic high school in Lahore run by the Apostolic Carmel (AC) missionary sisters.

On April 24, Archbishop Joseph Arshad visited the “House of Wisdom” in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, a residential formation center run by the Archdiocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, to review students’ progress and reaffirm the Church’s commitment to higher education as a pathway for social and community development.

On Good Shepherd Sunday, April 26, 2026, Archbishop Khalid Rehmat, OFM Cap, of Lahore inaugurated a Vocation Day Camp at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Aadha, Sialkot, in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Fr. Shehzad Shareef OFM, a member of the formation team at Dar Ul Naeem, a Franciscan formation house in Lahore, led a comprehensive learning seminar for over eighty religious sisters from various congregations at the St. Paul Communication Centre on April 25, 2026.

On April 23, in a significant homecoming, Archbishop Khalid Rehmat of the Lahore Archdiocese visited St. Mary’s Catholic Church at the Capuchin Custody House in Gulberg, Lahore, where he had previously served as parish priest and later as Custos of the Capuchin Order until January 2021, when Pope Francis appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Quetta.