The Church in Afghanistan

Thanks to omnipresent cellphone videos, we can all experience the trauma faced by those Afghans and American citizens trying to make their way to the Kabul airport. And as we watch this disaster unfold in Afghanistan, we begin to wonder what the future will bring. Only the most optimistic could find anything positive about all that has happened and likely will happen as a result of President Biden’s historic national security blunder. 

And then I heard an Afghan mention that things would be especially dangerous for Christians in the country. I’ll admit I didn’t realize there was a Christian presence in Afghanistan. I was aware that Afghan law — law established by a government we helped set up — considered apostasy from Islam a capital offense. The punishment for men who convert from Islam is execution, and for women, life imprisonment. Because of this, I just assumed there were very few Afghan Christians. It seems like 1st-century Romans and 20th-century Soviet and Chinese communists, I had underestimated the faith and courage of Christians. As it turns out, there are very few Christians in Afghanistan, but there are some. To find out more, I began to nose around. I was especially interested in the Catholic Church’s presence, if any, in Afghanistan.

I decided to check out the website listing the worldwide Catholic Hierarchy and there I found Fr. Giovanni Scalese, a 66-year-old Italian priest, a member of the Barnabites (The Clerics Regular of St. Paul) who is listed as the Superior of Afghanistan. This good priest might be, from what I can discover, the only Catholic priest in Afghanistan. I suspect there are probably others, but Fr. Scalese must not even refer to this possibility lest he place them in physical danger. Anyway, his name rang a very distant bell and so I checked my favorite journal, First Things, and sure enough, back in 2017, they published an interview with Fr. Scalese that gave a clear picture of the Catholic presence in Afghanistan four years ago. One need not be a prophet to realize things are far worse today. Here’s a link to the interview: The Church In Afghanistan.

After reading this interview, I decided to look for something more current from Fr. Scalese and, wouldn’t you know it, I found it. Fr. Scalese is today pleading for prayers for the people of Afghanistan. In his words, “We are living in days of great apprehension as we await what happens… pray, pray, pray for Afghanistan! Thank you.” Here is a link to the article: Kabul Catholic priest pleads for prayers…

I found another article — Fr. Scalese: Afghans Fear Another Civil War — published online in April of this year, in which Fr. Scalese is asked his opinion regarding the decisions by Presidents Trump and Biden to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan. Even though he is hopeful a Taliban victory will not completely eradicate the freedoms many Afghans have come to cherish, one can sense his fears for the people he has come to love.

I’ll return to this subject soon, but in the meantime pray for the people of Afghanistan, that the Lord of All will grant them the peace and the hope for which they yearn and which only God can provide.

Praised by Jesus Christ! Now and forever!