The Vatican is not offering asylum to a persecuted Catholic woman in Pakistan.
After years of struggle in the courts, Aasiya Noreen "Asia" Bibi — a Catholic mother of five — was acquited of charges of blasphemy in the Pakistan Supreme Court on Oct. 31. Islamic fundamentalists all over Pakistan immediately began protesting the acquittal. Many of the protesters demanded Bibi's death for her alleged blasphemy against the prophet Mohammad.
Since her acquittal, Bibi and her family have lived in fear for their lives. Many countries, such as Italy and Canada, have considered offering asylum to Bibi and her family members. Efforts to help the persecuted Catholic family have also been proposed in the United States and the United Kingdom.
But Cdl. Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, has said that the Vatican is not working to offer asylum to the family. He reportedly explained in November that the Vatican is not engaging in diplomatic activity to try to save Bibi, adding, "It's an issue inside Pakistan, I hope it can be resolved in the best way."
Some are criticizing Cdl. Parolin's statements on Bibi from November in light of his apparent support for migrants to Europe. Cardinal Parolin spoke at length about the issues of migration at a Dec. 10 conference in Morocco, arguing in part that "it is essential to adopt an inclusive approach in addressing migrants' needs."
n 2009, Bibi was getting water from a well when a Muslim woman declared that both the water and the vessels used to obtain it were now "haram," an Islamic term meaning "forbidden" or "unclean."
The woman shouted to other Muslim women working in the fields. The women gathered around and engaged in fierce arguments with Bibi. They kept pressuring her to convert to Islam. The Christian woman sealed her fate when she shot back, "What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind?"
The Muslim women became furious. Bibi ran away amid shouting and spitting. A Muslim mob violently harassed her a few days later, and the woman was covered in blood by the time local police arrested her.
Bibi was sentenced to death for the crime of blasphemy against Islam in 2010. Her attorneys kept appealing the conviction, battling it out in the courts for years. The case drew the attention of human rights organizations around the world.
