The beatification cause of a Catholic who died preventing a suicide bomber from entering a church is advancing, the Archdiocese of Lahore, Pakistan, announced this week
The cause of Akash Bashir, who died outside of St. John’s Church in Lahore’s Youhanabad neighborhood on March 15, 2015, opened in 2022. The archdiocese said Nov. 7 that the Vatican had validated the diocesan phase of the cause, which closed earlier this year.
Bashir, who died at the age of 20, is one of a rising number of 21st-century Catholics killed by Islamists whose causes are advancing around the world.
The background
A study by the Foundation for Political Innovation, a French think tank, concluded there were 33,769 Islamist terrorist attacks worldwide between 1979 and 2019, with a death toll of at least 167,096 people.
Almost 90% of the attacks took place in Muslim-majority countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia — suggesting that a high proportion of the victims are Muslim.
But religious minorities too are frequently among the victims, as the case of Akash Bashir illustrates. And attacks have taken place in every inhabited continent.
The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need noted in a report released Oct. 22 that “the epicenter of militant Islamist violence has shifted from the Middle East to Africa.”
“While jihadi militantism persisted in pockets of the Middle East, such as Idlib, Syria, state authorities in the region made significant strides in clamping down on violent Islamist groups,” it said.
“By contrast, in parts of Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mozambique, and elsewhere, Christians were terrorized by extremist violence.”
Causes on the move
Budding sainthood causes for victims of Islamist terrorism can be found across the world:
Shahbaz Bhatti (1968-2011): The Catholic politician who campaigned for the reform of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws was murdered outside of his mother’s house by the Pakistani Taliban. In a video recorded shortly before his assassination, he said: “I am living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights.” The Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi opened his cause in 2016.
Fr. Ragheed Ganni (1972-2007): A Chaldean Catholic priest who was killed in front of his church in Mosul, Iraq, alongside three subdeacons. The Vatican approved the opening of the cause of Ganni and his companions in 2018.
Fr. Jacques Hamel (1930-2016): A priest killed by Islamists in his church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, northern France. Pope Francis waived the standard five-year waiting period for the opening of Hamel’s beatification cause. The cause’s diocesan phase closed in 2019.
Ignacio Echeverría (1978-2017): A Spanish lawyer and banker who died after attempting to stop a terrorist attack in London, England, in 2017. The Archdiocese of Madrid is in the early stages of promoting the cause of the man nicknamed “the skateboard hero” because he took on terrorists using only his skateboard.
There is also a push for the beatification of the 171 Catholics killed in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka. Thousands of local Catholics submitted a petition in April calling for them to be raised to the altars.
What’s next
While high-profile causes bring welcome attention to the victims of Islamism terrorism, the majority of those killed will likely remain unknown to most Catholics.
In February, for example, 15 Catholics were killed in an attack on a church in northeastern Burkina Faso. International media reports did not specify their names, which are likely known only to members of the immediate community.
