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Thursday December 26, 2024

Vatican honours Pakistani youth with 'Servant of God' title posthumously

Akash Bashir laid down his life while preventing a suicide bomber from entering a packed church in 2015

By Web Desk
February 02, 2022
Akash Bashir. - Courtesy: Vatican News
Akash Bashir. - Courtesy: Vatican News

In recognition of his valour and supreme sacrifice he rendered to protect other people, Vatican honoured a Pakistani youth named Akash Bashir with the 'Servant of God' title posthumously.

Akash Bashir, a lay Catholic and former student of Don Bosco Technical Institute of Lahore, laid down his life while preventing a suicide bomber from entering a packed church in 2015, Vatican News reported.

In a statement, Vicar General of the archdiocese, Father Francis Gulzar said,“A great day for the Catholic Church in Pakistan. He offered his life as a sacrifice to save the lives of the Christian community at St. John's Catholic Church, Youhanabad, Lahore.”

The family of Servant of God Akash Bashir, along with a priest. - Photo Vatican News
The family of Servant of God Akash Bashir, along with a priest. - Photo Vatican News

Born on 22 June 1994 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera, Akash died at the age of 20, on March 15, 2015.

The attacks

Two suicide bombers had blown themselves up near St. John’s Catholic Church and the nearby Christ ‎Church of the Church of Pakistan in Lahore on March 15, 2015. As many as 17 people had been killed and more than 70 suffered injuries in the attacks.