A suspended Catholic priest facing a rape charge has accused the bishop and vicar general of Faisalabad diocese of Pakistan of corruption and cover up, which the diocese dismissed. (Photo: UCA News)
The Faisalabad diocese in Pakistan has dismissed allegations of corruption and cover-up leveled against its bishop by a priest, who was suspended following complaints of raping a minor girl.
In a statement on June 30, the diocese said the corruption allegation against Bishop Indrias Rehmat and vicar-general Father Abid Tanveer is baseless.
The allegations came from Father Naveed Thomas, the former parish priest of St Pius X parish in Punjab province, who was suspended in February after a family complained that the priest raped their teen girl.
“Father Thomas became angry after the Church initiated an inquiry against him. He started threatening and did not cooperate with the investigating team,” said the statement in Urdu, the national language.
“He started making false statements on social media" against the bishop and vicar general after the alleged rape victim's family filed a police complaint in June.
The police complaint has "no relation with the bishop and the Church. All his allegations are baseless and based on lies,” it added.
The priest was suspended after the victim's father, Zulfiqar Masih, his parishioner, complained to the bishop.
Masih said the priest raped his daughter, now 19, "several times at gunpoint" and arranged for an abortion when she became pregnant.
He filed a complaint against the priest with the police on June 22.
Thomas, who secured a pre-arrest bail till July 6, has accused Bishop Rehmat of pursuing the rape case to avenge four-year-old grievances.
According to him, the bishop and vicar general "cunningly turned the dispute with a family over 300,000 rupees (US$ 1,081) into a rape case."
The rape case against him, he alleged in social media, was "chalked out at the bishop's house under the observation of the religious leaders of the Faisalabad diocese."
He also accused the bishop of paying to the alleged rape victims family "at the cost of the dignity of their daughter.”
Church leaders who cannot "solve their disputes within the Church" should not continue as bishops. "Stop insulting Christian faith and holy service,” he added.
Thomas told UCA News the bishop was defaming him "to cover up financial irregularities in the diocese."
Bishop Rehmat denied any wrongdoing.
“The Church can tolerate all things, but there is zero tolerance for sexual crimes,” he told UCA News.
“In a situation where a person is suspended, he is excluded from any activity involving money, children, or public,” the prelate said, referring to the taking away of responsibilities from Thomas.
He accused the priest of attempts to mislead the family of the victim.
Shahid Anwar, a human rights lawyer and diocesan coordinator of the Catholic Bishop’s National Commission for Justice and Peace, said the sex scandal has stirred the nation’s more than 1.3 million Catholics.
“The laity is confused. They are being taunted. Father Thomas should have avoided this situation,” he said.
