Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Catholics in Pakistan
Lahore (Fides News Agency) – The rain, the inconvenience and the forecasts of bad weather have not dampened the deep Marian devotion of the faithful in Pakistan. Today, September 4, celebrations begin at the Shrine of Mariamabad for the 77th National Pilgrimage, a cornerstone of Marian devotion among Pakistani Catholics, which will conclude on September 6.
“It is deeply moving. Despite forecasts of severe weather, with heavy rains that could cause flooding and make it extremely difficult for the faithful to remain in the open area in front of the Shrine, where pilgrims set up their camps, they remain steadfast in faith and in their deep bond with the Virgin Mary: nothing can separate them from the love of Christ,” Father Qaisar Feroz OFM Cap, parish priest in Lahore and spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, tells Fides Agency. He is present in Mariamabad with his community.
“Many people have already reached Mariamabad, while thousands more from all the dioceses of Pakistan are travelling in pilgrim caravans: on foot, by bicycle, motorcycle, truck and bus. It is an impressive nationwide mobilization of faith: families travel thousands of kilometres to pray to Mary, place themselves under her mantle, entrust their lives and difficulties to her, and implore graces from their heavenly Mother,” the Capuchin friar explains, as more than 500,000 faithful are expected to attend.
The pilgrims are taking part in the opening Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Lahore, Khalid Rehmat. “Among them are also Muslims and Hindus: Mary draws the hearts of everyone,” Father Feroz notes.
This year’s pilgrimage will also have a distinctly “Franciscan character”, marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi. The Franciscans in Pakistan will lead the meditated Rosary at Mariamabad, using texts and passages from the Franciscan Sources that reflect St Francis of Assisi’s profound love for the Virgin Mary.
“The Rosary will be an immense prayer for peace, joined by the thousands of pilgrims,” Father Feroz says.
Mariamabad, also known as the “City of Mary”, is Pakistan’s most important national Marian shrine. Located in Punjab province, about 80 kilometres from Lahore, its history, Father Feroz recalls, “is linked to the work of the Belgian Capuchin missionaries and, in particular, to the figure of Father Felix van de Putte, its founder.”
At the end of the 19th century, the Capuchin missionaries in Pakistan realized that the new converts to Christianity, most of them ethnic Punjabis belonging to the poorest sections of society, were subjected to severe discrimination, oppression and conditions of semi-slavery by local landowners.
To free these families from poverty, Capuchin Bishop Emmanuel Van Den Bosch purchased from the British government around 150 acres of barren and undeveloped land in the Sheikhupura district, with the aim of establishing a village for Christians.
In January 1893, three Christian families, accompanied by the missionaries, undertook a six-day journey to reach the new land and founded an agricultural village, which they named Maryabad (later Mariamabad), meaning “City of Mary”.
Father Felix arrived in Mariamabad in 1896 and became its true pillar and builder. He expanded the colony and promoted the agricultural, social and spiritual development of the community. He organized cultivation systems so that Catholic families could finally work their own land, build permanent homes and live from their labour with dignity and security.
Father Felix also directed the construction of the new church, which was consecrated on December 8, 1898. Since then, the faithful developed a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, praying the Rosary every day.
In the following years, the Capuchin friars built a grotto like the one at Lourdes, France, placing a statue of Our Lady at the top of a small hill near the church.
In 1949, Mariamabad was officially declared the National Marian Shrine of Pakistan. The site has also become a rare and extraordinary place of interreligious dialogue, regularly visited not only by Christians but also by large numbers of Muslims and Hindus, who come to honour Mary and seek her intercession.
(PA) (Fides News Agency, 4/9/2026)
