Andrew Francis (29 November 1946 – 6 June 2017) was the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

prelate who served as the Bishop of Multan from 2000 to 2014.

Biography

He was born in Adah,

on 29 November 1946. He was educated at St. Mary’s Convent school, Adah and

St Francis High School, Lahore St. Francis High School, formerly known as Government St. Francis High School is a private Catholic school for boys, located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. In spite of its name as a ''high school'', the school delivers a primary and high school edu ...

. He received his religious training at the

Christ the King Seminary The Christ the King Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town, Karachi, Pakistan; located in adjacent to the Portiuncula Friary. In its early years most of the faculty were provided by the Franciscans. It has been described ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

. On 10 January 1972, he was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

of the

Archdiocese of Lahore The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lahore is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese in Punjab province, Pakistan. Its episcopal seat is the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore. History In 1594 the Mughal emperor Akbar invited some Cath ...

. He has been rector of

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Lahore Sacred Heart Cathedral ( ur, ) is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore, located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Built at the behest of bishop Godefroid Pelckmans (Bishop of Lahore, 1893-1904) with Belgian aid and materials, the cat ...

in 1986 and later Parish Priest of St. Anthony's Church, Lahore, until his ordination as bishop in February 2000. Francis also served as the editor-in-chief of Pakistan's oldest catholic fortnightly the ''

Catholic Naqib The ''Catholic Naqib'' (Urdu کاتھولک نقیب) is the oldest Urdu-language Catholic magazine, founded in Lahore, Pakistan in 1929 by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore. It was originally published by Lahore Press and, since 1997, by ...

''. On 3 December 1999 he was appointed Bishop of Multan in Pakistan. He was ordained as bishop on 26 February 2000. It was later revealed that a civil court had issued a stay order on the ordination of the Bishop-elect, but he was ordained before the court order arrived. Archbishop Alessandro D'Errico, apostolic nuncio to Pakistan, and Bishop Anthony Lobo of Islamabad-Rawalpindi presided at the ordination of Bishop Francis at a private chapel of the Lahore archbishop's house. Bishop Francis was the chairman of the National Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue and Ecumenism, National Commission of Sacred Liturgy and National Commission of Catholic Urdu Literature. Also he was a member of Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue - Rome, International Commission for English in the Liturgy, USA and the Minority Committee of the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

. In 2014 Francis was injured in a car accident and became a wheelchair user. On 13 June 2014

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

accepted the resignation of Bishop Andrew Francis in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law, and appointed Benny Travas of Karachi as

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

. Bishop Andrew died on 6 June 2017, aged 70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Andrew 1944 births 2017 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Pakistan 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Pakistan Roman Catholic bishops of Multan