Just four days after a mob of Islamist extremists burned down a Christian community in the Pakistani city of Jaran-wala, over 700 Catholics ga-thered to celebrate Mass out-side the decimated St. Paul Catholic Church on Aug. 20.
Despite the incredible de-vastation and widespread fears that another anti-Christian riot would break out, hundreds of Catholics turned to the Eu-charist following a mob attack that destroyed more than 30 churches and 800 homes.
“Most of the people were crying in the Mass,” one Chri-stian community leader told the Catholic relief group Aid to the Church in Need Interna-tional (ACN).
“It was a very painful time but a chance to share with one another their sense of loss and sadness,” said the Christian, who was not identified by ACN out of safety concerns.
What happened? On Aug. 16, a riot of hundreds of Mus-lims – reported by some as thousands – broke out in the Christian portion of Jaranwala in Pakistan’s northeastern Punjab province.
The anti-Christian mob had broken into a frenzy after two Christians, Rocky Masih and Raja Masih, were accused of profaning the Quran and insu-lting Islam. Disrespecting the Quran is a crime punishable by life in prison in Pakistan.
Before a formal police in-vestigation could begin, a crowd of Muslims, reportedly spurred on by an extremist group called “Tehreek-e-Labbaik” went on a rampage through the Christian district.