Pakistan cardinal appeals for prayers ahead of conclave

Cardinal Joseph Coutts, one of Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need’s longest-serving project partners in Pakistan, has issued an impassioned plea for prayers ahead of next week’s conclave.  

In a video message received Friday, May 2nd, shortly after he arrived in Rome, the former Archbishop of Karachi, who was made cardinal by Pope Francis in June 2018, stressed that now is “the critical time” for prayers for the conclave.  

Cardinal Joseph Coutts of Karachi

He said, “Now that many cardinals – more than 100 cardinals – from all over the world have gathered here in Rome, the time is coming close when we will go into the conclave to vote for the new pope.” 

“Remember, it is not only the cardinals, but the cardinals with the Church, and we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Cardinal Coutts, who is less than three months away from his 80th birthday and, as such, is just young enough to vote in the conclave, said, “This is a very critical time, and this is the time when we need your prayers. 

And that’s why when we go into the conclave, we spend a lot of time in prayer and silence and meditation, so that the Holy Spirit may guide us to choose another good leader in the place of St Peter. 

So it is not just a worldly election. It is an election for the head of the Church of Jesus Christ, so we need your prayers.  

Please pray for us so that we may be guided on the right path to choose a new Pope. Thank you.”  

Cardinal Coutts has worked closely with ACN for decades. For more than 30 years, he served as a diocesan bishop in Pakistan, first in the Diocese of Hyderabad, and then in Faisalabad, before his elevation to the Archdiocese of Karachi in 2012.  

He has traveled to many national offices of ACN around the world, championing the cause of persecuted and other suffering Christians – and promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding.  

The cardinal, the recipient of numerous awards for his commitment to interfaith relations, peace, and harmony, was in March given the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by Asif Ali Zardari, the President of Pakistan, for his lifelong contribution to interreligious dialogue, social welfare, and the protection of minority rights in the country.