Posted on 03/07/2011 6:19:48 AM PST by marshmallow
More than 20,000 Christians from all over Pakistan flocked to the remote village of Kushpur in the Faisalabad Diocese for the funeral of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistans assassinated minister for minorities.
Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Pakistani bishops justice and peace commission, told the Catholic News Service by phone from Kushpur: It was a very emotional funeral, with the people wailing and weeping all through.
Bhatti, 42, a Catholic, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen who pumped bullets into his car from automatic weapons as he was being driven to his office in Islamabad last week.
The final leg of the funeral was led by Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, joined by two Protestant bishops and dozens of Catholic priests.
Bhattis body was flown to Kushpur in the afternoon from Islamabad, about 300 miles away, after a memorial Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Islamabad. Bishop Rufin Anthony of Islamabad-Rawalpindi was principal celebrant.
Thousands of Christians, religious leaders, foreign diplomats and government officials led by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani attended the Islamabad service, which included a state salute.
Today is a very sad day, said Mr Gilani, describing Bhatti as a very rare leader.
All the minorities [in Pakistan] have lost a great leader, he added.
Bhatti founded the Christian Liberation Front in his student days and launched the All Pakistan Minority Alliance in 2001. He joined the Pakistan Peoples Party in 2002. When the party, under President Asif Ali Zardari, assumed power in early 2008, Bhatti was named to the National Assembly under the quota reserved for Christians and was soon the federal minister for minority affairs.
An outspoken critic of Pakistans blasphemy laws, Bhatti became a target of Islamic extremists in November after he initiated a clemency petition for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Next the RCC will be worshipping him and the pentecostals will have visions about him, sheesh.
Uncalled for...
If the hour of trial should ever come for us, I pray that I might have a small fraction of the courage of martyrs like Bhatti.
Just speaking the truth. This man followed the wrong teachings of Rome and we know what happens to such people. Heaven is for the elect.
Also uncalled for....
He's a better man than you and me.
You sound like a troll.
No, just speaking the truth of Christ. Read my tagline.
It sounds somewhat similar to Fred Phelps' outfit.
God hates Catholic martyrs.
Would that be a fair statement?
Close enough. If a denomination twists scripture and you do not leave it, then you are not elect. This is true not only for RCs but also the various oneness pentecostals, adventists, arminian methodists and others who deny scripture’s truth.
Sniff I smell ozone
And I guess the same probably applies to the Catholics and Orthodox who are currently being killed by Muslims in Iraq.
They're headed for a bath of hot sulfur from Beelzebub too, right?
That's strange, I was certain that God got to decide who was elect and who wasn't, not you, and not the OPC. In fact, I'm pretty sure that elevating someone other than God to the status of Supreme Judge is a kind of idolatry. How ironic.
Bhatti died because he was a Christian. If your god damns people who die witnessing to him because their theology is defective, your god is not the God of the Bible.
How many times do Catholics need to tell you???????????????
We do not worship Mary!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We do not worship the saints!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We do not worship those who have died!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
__________________________
Instead
We ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for us.
We ask the saints to pray for us.
And we pray for the souls of the faithful departed, that, through the mercy of God, they may rest in peace.
Please put this into your brain — and perhaps you will start speaking the truth!!!
Another thing — you use the letters RCC.
There is no Roman Catholic Church.
We are members of the Latin Rite.
There are many rites.
The Rites of the Catholic Church [Catholic Caucus]
One and Many Churches (origins of the Church)
THE RITES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH -- There are many!
(Cardinal) Newman on Rites and Ceremonies
It's not often one gets a good look behind the OPC curtain, although other OPC posters give us the occasional glimpse. This needs to be encouraged, not squelched. They spend most of their time attacking what we believe but when they come straight out and say what they believe, then the fun really begins.
This is "Westboro Baptist" type theology at its very best........er.........worst!
Any other OPC members.......excuse me.....elect..... want to weigh in here?
I do not know about what the Orthodox believe in, but Catholic beliefs are wrong, we know that and wrong beliefs do not endear you to God. These are His rules, not mine. He has saved a few from everlasting damnation because He is kind and loving. Catholics, adventists, methodists, pentecostals and others are not among the elect
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