The Bible in Pakistan: Bringing People Closer to the Word of God

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) spoke to Father Emmanuel Asi, executive director of the Catholic Bible Commission of Pakistan, about the situation of Christians in his country, and his apostolate in Pakistan. Father Asi is a priest in the Archdiocese of Lahore and spoke about the sacred nature of the Bible for the faithful: “Over the past 20 years, since the Catholic Bible Commission was founded, we have done much to bring the Word of God closer to the people, and the people closer to the Word of God. This is our mission. People want to listen; they want to read God’s Word. We have a variety of programs for people to participate in. For example, we have one called Hundred Thousand Friends of the Bible, with people from all over Pakistan who have their own Bible and like to read it for at least five minutes a day. Last year, in November, we put audio readings of the Bible online for people who cannot read. That way people could listen to the Word of God. We also have the Bible for Children, and the YouCat Bible, printed in Urdu, thanks to ACN. We have printed 70,000 Bibles. We also have Bible Marathons in all our dioceses, with 2000 participants around the country. Over a period of 127 hours the Bible is read out in full, non-stop, day and night. People have been very enthusiastic and spiritually touched by this program”. Read the full interview here.