Afghanistan, despite having been called “the crossroads of Asia”, has been one of the least accessible missionary territories for the Catholic Church, as a permanent Catholic presence that engages in missionary work among the peoples of Afghanistan has yet to be established. Nonetheless, the relatively short history of the Church in the Hindu Kush is a fascinating and eventful one.
Uncertain beginnings
There is no
conclusive proof of a Catholic presence in the area of modern-day Afghanistan
in apostolic times. While the historic region of Bactria, which includes parts
of Afghanistan, is said to have been visited by St. Thomas the Apostle, there
is no evidence he visited Afghanistan proper. The earliest Christian presence is
certainly East Syriac in origin, with the Assyrian Church of the East, also
referred to as the Nestorian church, having established dioceses in that part
of the Persian Empire in the 5th century. Herat in western
Afghanistan became an important Metropolitan See. The Islamic conquest would
reach Afghanistan in 642, although full Islamicization was not completed in
most of Afghanistan until centuries later. The Pahlavi inscriptions on the so-called
Processional cross of Herat, dating back to the 7th century,
bear testimony to the theological struggle with the new religion from Arabia. “There
are no three gods” is one of the affirmations on the cross, countering the
prevalent Islamic accusation that Christians are polytheists. By the 14th
century, the Nestorian community had disappeared, and Afghanistan had become
nearly entirely Muslim with a small pagan pocket in today’s Nuristan province,
which was converted to Islam in the late 19th century.
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| The processional cross of Herat (source: Sasanika Project) |
Although Western
and Central Asia were visited by Catholic missionaries in the Middle Ages,
Afghanistan remained secluded. While both Blessed Oderic of Pordenone and John
of Montecorvino visited Persia in the 14th century, they bypassed
Afghanistan in their travels. The first recorded visit of a Catholic missionary
to Afghanistan is that of Fr. Antoni de Montserrat, one of the Jesuits who
visited the court of the Mughal Emperor Akbar I. Akbar I was friendly
towards the European missionaries and asked de Montserrat to accompany him
on his military expedition to Afghanistan in 1581. The next year, Fr. de
Montserrat’s Portuguese confrere Bento de Góis passed through
northern Afghanistan on his way to China. De Góis’ short stay would be the
last validated Catholic foray into Afghanistan for nearly 300 years.
 |
| Bento de Góis, S.J. |
When the
British Empire fought the Second Anglo-Afghan War from 1878 to 1880, the Holy
See asked the Mill Hill Missionaries to provide the pastoral care for the
Catholics among the British soldiers. The plan was for Mill Hill to staff a
permanent mission after British victory, but this idea was abandoned and the
missionaries withdrew to the British Indian side where they would take over the
Apostolic Prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir. It would take another 50 years
for the next chapter of Church history in Afghanistan to be written—in a most
unlikely way.
A
70-year-old parish priest as a one-man missionary expedition
One day in
the spring of 1928, the 70-year-old parish priest of St. Peter and Paul in
Chicago, Fr. George Blatter, read a story about Afghanistan in a
missionary magazine. The thought that there was no missionary in the country
and preaching any other religion than Islam would carry the death sentence
deeply affected him. Did Christ not command to go and teach all nations? He
decided to travel to the forbidden empire to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass there to pave the way for future missionaries. Fr. Blatter bade leave from
his archbishop, Cardinal Mundelein, who gave him his blessing. Finally, on July
23, 1930, after a long trip by sea and land and having to wait to get his
documents in order, he was able cross into Afghanistan. Despite many
difficulties, such as being spied on, he was able to achieve the goal of his
daring journey: celebrate Holy Mass in Afghanistan. Undeterred by the suspicion
to which government agents subjected him, he would wear his priestly collar in
public and oftentimes the cassock as well.
Fr. Blatter
was invited to the Royal Court of King Mohammed Nadir Khan, whose minister of
Foreign Affairs listened with interest to the Catholic priest explaining
Christianity and suggesting the construction of pharmacies and hospitals. The
king himself received him in an audience and wished him well.
After
contracting Malaria in September 1930, Fr. Blatter had to leave Afghanistan for
good but subsequently traveled to Bangalore in India to report to the Apostolic
Delegature, which took steps to provide money for the first permanent
missionary in Afghanistan. On January 20, 1932, George Blatter was received by
Pope Pius XI in a private audience. He told the Holy Father that he wanted to
return to Afghanistan despite his old age. His wish did not come true and
Blatter died in Chicago in 1937. Nonetheless, he was instrumental in ushering
in the longest continuous Catholic presence in the history of the country.
The
Barnabites and the sui iuris mission
Already in
the early 1920s, King Ammanullah had shown his willingness to permit European
embassies to receive a Catholic priest for their pastoral needs. It appears as
if Pope Pius XI seized this opportunity of Blatter’s recent contact with King
Mohammed’s court to send a priest to Afghanistan. On 25 January 1931, the “Pope
of the missions” wrote to the superior general of the Clerics Regular of St.
Paul (Barnabites), Fr. Ferdinando Napoli: “Sons of St. Paul, you must
embrace with enthusiasm the opportunity that opens the door for you to
evangelize new peoples. You will write one of the most beautiful pages of the
history of your congregation, because it is up to you, after twenty centuries
of Christianity, to be the first to penetrate this land and bring the light of
the Gospel there. It will continue to cost sacrifices, but without sacrifice
there are no great works.” The Barnabites would send the learned Fr. Egidio
Caspani and who would go on to become the first superior of the US province of
the Barnabites. He was accompanied by Fr. Ernesto Cagnacci, who had to hide his
priestly identity in Afghanistan and present himself as Fr. Caspani’s
“study aide”, as only one official priest was permitted in the country. A
chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Providence was built on the premises of
the Italian embassy, thus avoiding the diplomatic headaches of building a
church on what was considered Muslim territory. Frs. Caspani and Cagnacci
served the European community and traveled the land doing research, but did not
engage in active missionary ministry. When these first two Barnabites left for
the United States, they were replaced by Fr. Giovanni Bernasconi. Caspani would
later publish the book “Afghanistan, crocevie dell'Asia“ (Afghanistan,
crossroads of Asia), about his experience in the country.
In 1954,
the Barnabites were joined by the Little Sisters of Jesus in Kabul, who were
going to work as nurses at the government hospital for many decades. Another
Catholic presence was that of Fr. Serge de Beaurecueil, O.P., who gave
lectures on Islamic mysticism at the University of Kabul and took care of
street children. He had to leave Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded in 1983.
The first Taliban government would not permit any other Catholic religious than
the Little Sisters to work in Afghanistan. The Barnabites had to recall Fr.
Giuseppe Moretti, then the only priest in the country.
When the
international coalition toppled the Taliban in 2001, a new chapter began for
the Church in Afghanistan. Pope John Paul II asked Fr. Moretti to return,
and the first Mass in nearly a decade was offered on 27 January 2002 by
Fr. Ivan Lai, O.F.M. for ISAF soldiers and civilian personnel of foreign
countries. On 16 May 2002, the Pope established a sui iuris mission led by
the Barnabites. The number of religious increased moderately, and the Church opened
a technical school in Herat. The case of Abdul Rahman, an Afghan man who
converted to Catholicism in the 1990s and was sentenced to death for apostasy
from Islam by the new Western-backed government in 2006, illustrates the great
obstacles to genuine missionary work in the country. Western pressure finally
let to his acquittal and exit from Afghanistan.
During the
period of heightened Taliban insurgency, there was a ray of hope: 13 October
2017, on the anniversary of the final apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, Fr.
Giovanni Scalese, the superior of the mission, consecrated the country to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The
current situation
The second
Taliban takeover foreseeably brought another end to the Catholic mission in
Afghanistan. Fr. Scalese has expressed his desire to return to the country,
but the increasingly fanatical stance of the Taliban government makes this prospect
highly unlikely. In 2024, Pope Francis called on the international community
for the “forgotten” people of Afghanistan as the country was affected by severe
floods.
May Afghanistan
not be forgotten in the prayers of the Church and her children, so that many a
glorious page of Afghan Church history will still be written.
Sources:
Vatican
News, “Pope's appeal for Afghanistan helps a 'forgotten' people”
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-05/last-priest-to-have-been-in-afghanistan-pope-appeal-helps.html
Mill Hill
Missionaries, “Part 5: Mission to South Asia”
https://millhillmissionaries.com/our-history/part-5-mission-to-south-asia/
NSC
Network, “The Pahlavi inscribed Processional Cross of Herat, Afghanistan
and the Pahlavi Crosses of South India: A Comparative Study of Religio
Cultural traditions of the Churches of India and Parthia”’
https://www.nasrani.net/cross-study-religio-cultural-traditions-churches-india-parthia/
Wikipedia,
“Mission sui iuris of Afghanistan”
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_sui_juris_d%27Afghanistan
Die Weltmission der katholischen Kirche, 1935 Nr. 3/4
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