Pakistan: Asia Bibi Prays for Her Enemies
From death row, where she has been languishing ever since her conviction in 2001, Christian Asia Bibi just gave her loved ones, for Easter, a prayer full of faith, along with an appeal to the Holy Father for her release.
“I beg You, Jesus, deliver me, break my chains, let my heart fly beyond these bars,” asks Asia Bibi in a prayer written in the prison of Multan in Pakistan, behind the bars of which she has been locked up for eight years, accused of supposed blasphemy against Islam and condemned to death.
In this jail, where she was able to celebrate Easter, her husband Ashiq, and her family’s guardian Joseph Nadeem, Asia entrusted her loved ones with this prayer written on a scrap of paper. In her message, she invokes the Resurrection and asks God to lift the obstacles and relieve her sufferings. Then, like Christ, she prays for her enemies, as she did at Christmas, and forgives those who have done her harm. She ends with a vibrant appeal to the Holy Father, asking him not to forget to pray for her.
The accusations against her are as follows: Asia went to get water at a well, and after drinking out of her cup, offered it to some Muslim women. One of these women refused to drink, saying that Asia had defiled the water because she was a Christian.
Asia defended herself, saying that she did not think the prophet Muhammad would agree with this attitude. This aroused the indignation of the Muslims, who took her words as a blasphemy against Islam, hence her imprisonment in 2009 and her death sentence a year later.
An appeal has been filed with the Supreme Court and a presidential pardon has been solicited. Ashiq Masih, Asia Bibi’s husband, and one of their daughters participated in Pope Francis’ general audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 15, 2015.
Source: Radio Vatican – FSSPX.Actualités - 4/22/17
