Lahore – “The Jubilee Year has reminded us that Christ is our hope, yesterday, today, and forever. This hope accompanies us in 2026, a year in which we hope and commit ourselves to building peace in our society and our nation, and also with neighboring countries: peace with India and peace with Afghanistan,” Father Qaiser Feroz, OFM Cap, a Capuchin priest, parish priest in Lahore, and Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Social Communications of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, told Fides. “The closing of the Jubilee Year, on the Feast of the Epiphany,” he recounts, “was for us a moment of intense prayer: a prayer of thanksgiving for the gifts received and of intercession for the future.”
“The Jubilee,” he explains, “was celebrated with great enthusiasm in all the Catholic dioceses of Pakistan. Hope was the focus of our reflections, prayers, and sermons. Numerous activities centered on this theme helped people to renew themselves in the Christian life. In Pakistani society, amidst challenges such as war, ethnic conflicts, and difficult situations like rising unemployment and the daily struggle for survival, our hope was strengthened and our faith renewed. We raised our gaze to Christ, our living hope, in the midst of persecution and the difficult times we are experiencing.”
The priest continues: “We have seen hope blossom in simple gestures: children proclaiming the Gospel; Muslim neighbors sharing moments and meals with us during Christmas, in a spirit of fraternity. We have seen young people tirelessly volunteering to help the victims of the floods, with a generosity and charity that transcend faith, ethnicity, and culture. These moments, born of authentic love, are the living manger where Christ continues to be born today.”
“As Archbishop Arshad reminded us,” Father Feroz adds, “in this new year, after the conclusion of the Jubilee, we are called to carry forward the graces we have received and to be witnesses of mercy and builders of bridges, because hope is rooted in God’s faithfulness: that is the foundation of our hope, even in the tribulations and trials we experience.”
In all the Catholic communities of Pakistan, he points out, even amidst suffering and poverty, “we have seen families praying together, helping those most in need, raising their children in peace and in the care of our common home: these are signs that the light of Christ shines in Pakistan, shines in the lamps of our homes, in the courage of those who forgive and give themselves to their neighbor.” The prayer of all Pakistani Catholics, concludes Father Feroz, is “that we may be artisans of peace, especially where there is conflict, and sowers of hope where despair threatens to prevail.”
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