Bishop Khalid Rehmat OFM Cap becomes the new vicar of Quetta
In his letter, Pope Francis appoints the new vicar whose motto is “Service, peace and development”. In a world divided by colour, culture, creed, language, into East, West, North and South, there is an urgent need for peace and harmony that are possible through reconciliation and dialogue.
Quetta (AsiaNews) – In his letter appointing Bishop Khalid Rehmat OFM Cap as Apostolic Vicar of Quetta, Pope Francis sends his blessing and calls to pray that the vicariate may grow in Christ and be concerned about the Church in Quetta. The letter was read during the inauguration.
The death of Bishop Victor Gnanapragasam, vicar apostolic, left the post vacant. In his letter, the Pope says that the new vicar is worthy to fulfil his duty doing his best because “you are father and son of Francis the Assisi, and you have worked hard for the betterment of the Church; therefore, we hope that you can accomplish the work with your full effort.”
The letter goes on to say that “with the consent of the nation and with my authority, I appoint you Apostolic Vicar of Quetta. At the same time, I give you all the rights and duties and have you take the vow to be faithful to my successors.”
In his address, Bishop Rehmat explained that he chose his episcopal motto, “Service, peace and development” because that today peace is the most urgent need in the world.
Every human being is a member of the family created by God, with equal dignity. God wants every human being to live a happy and healthy life.
Jesus explained his mission at the beginning of his ministry by saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 9 because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
The values of the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus are the expression of God's generous and merciful love. Peace is the core value of God's kingdom and the most urgent need in the world.
In a world divided by colour, culture, creed, language, into East, West, North and South, there is an urgent need for peace and harmony that are possible through reconciliation and dialogue.
To highlight some important concerns, the new vicar quoted from Pope Francis' encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship: “The world exists for everyone, because all of us were born with the same dignity. Differences of colour, religion, talent, place of birth or residence, and so many others, cannot be used to justify the privileges of some over the rights of all. As a community, we have an obligation to ensure that every person lives with dignity and has sufficient opportunities for his or her integral development.”
“Therefore,” said Bishop Rehmat, “I will commit myself, together with all my priests and Sisters, denominations and leaders of the other religions, to ecumenical unity and interfaith harmony.
“My focus will be on the faith of the children, youth, families; education and higher learning will be my areas of concern for the integral development of the faithful, to promote peace and unity and to serve people.”
Subsequently, Fr Khan Paulus, IMO Superior and President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Pakistan, spoke. In his greeting he said: “We are all grateful to God who entrusted the Church of Quetta to a good shepherd, Bishop Khalid Rehmat.”
On behalf of all religious congregations in Pakistan, he congratulated the newly consecrated bishop, noting that he prays that the Church in Balochistan may grow in the love of Christ.
He also honoured the service of the late Bishop Victor Gnanapragasam and offered the full collaboration of all religious congregations, in particular of the Oblates operating in his diocese.
Archbishop Joseph Arshad, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan, congratulated the Church of Quetta and the Capuchins for having a new bishop.
He also mentioned the creation of this new vicariate when Cardinal Joseph Coutts, who was the bishop of Hyderabad, realised the great problem of covering and caring for the needs of the faithful in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan.
In order to do something better for the spiritual needs of the Church in Balochistan, the latter had to be defined as a separate entity. Thank God, two decades ago, it was given a separate identity as the Apostolic Prefecture of Quetta and Church.
.png)
