Akash Bashir's Cause Certified in Rome

Diocesan Inquiry into the Cause 
of the Servant of God Akash Bashir 
Certified in Rome

(ANS – Vatican City – November 6, 2024) – On November 5, a communiqué was sent to the postulator general for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, that the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in its ordinary meeting of October 24 gave legal validity to the diocesan inquiry for the cause of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Akash Bashir (b. at Risalpur, Pakistan, June 22, 1994 – d. at Lahore, March 15, 2015), layman and past pupil of Don Bosco. This follows the verification carried out on the formal aspects of the procedural documents and the consistency of the evidentiary apparatus: number and quality of witnesses, documents collected.

The postulator general stresses that “this is a great achievement, the result of the work done with passion and competence by the members of the diocesan tribunal and by those who have contributed, in particular by the historical commission and the vice postulator Fr. Gabriel Cruz SDB.” The postulator general will now ask the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to appoint a rapporteur to guide the preparation of the Positio super martyrio of the Servant of God. It will be drawn up by Dr. Matteo Penati, collaborator of the postulation. The diocesan inquiry was held at the diocesan chancery in Lahore, Pakistan, from March 15, 2022, to March 15, 2024.

Akash Bashir was born to a lower-class family and studied at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore. He led a life like any other young man’s and had dreams for his future. He lived with his family, he had friends both at school and at work, he liked to play sports, and prayer was part of his life. He had committed himself to living as an “a good Christian and upright citizen,” as Don Bosco wanted, and had become a security volunteer in his parish church, at a time when the situation in Pakistan was worrisome, with the risk of encountering suicide bombers who targeted religious sites.

One Sunday morning, March 15 2015, a suicide bomber attempted to enter the church of St. John in Youhanabad, a Christian district of Lahore, which at that time had over 800 faithful participating in Mass. When he realized the situation, Akash did not hesitate to sacrifice himself, grappling the bomber to keep him from causing a massacre in the church.