Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul

Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul
Basic information
Location	Faisalabad, Pakistan
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Faisalabad
Year consecrated	1969
Leadership	Bishop Rufin Anthony, Administrator
Website	Diocese of Faisalabad
Architectural description
Groundbreaking	1965
Completed	1969

The Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul is the main church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Faisalabad, Pakistan, 250 kilometers south of the Capital Islamabad.^{[1] [2][3]} The foundation of the Cathedral was laid in 1965 and the building was consecrated in 1969.

The cathedral has played a role in promoting harmony and understanding between the nation’s religious communities through events like the 2007 dinner Faisalabad’s Council for Inter-religious dialogue hosted for Muslim leaders and faithful.^[4]

In 2004, Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, grand imam (prayer leader) of Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, was chief guest at a ceremony to plant the Peace Pole on the lawn in front of the Cathedral.^[5]

On the 100th anniversary of the celebration of the first Church Unity Octave, Catholic and Protestant leaders invited each other to their churches. The first of these gatherings was hosted by Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, who invited Presbyterian Church leaders and laypeople to the Cathedral on January 18, 2008.^[6]

A special Mass was held at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on June 19, 2009, attended by about 20 diocesan priests, to celebrate the Year for Priests.^[7]

On 26 September 2009, hundreds of people gathered in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul to greet Bishop Rufin Anthony, a native of Faisalabad, who on 21 September 2009 took over as coadjutor bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi.^[8]

On April 17, 2010 the Diocese organized a special ceremony to celebrate its Golden Jubilee. Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan, Bishop Joseph Coutts (Faisalabad), Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha (Lahore), and Bishop Andrew Francis (Multan) spoke on the occasion.^[9] At the Jubilee Mass at the Cathedral attended by about 5,000 Catholics from 21 parishes, Archbishop Yllana said that the Vatican is happy to see the number of priestly and religious vocations in the diocese.^[10]

References