Servant of God Akash Bashir

Akash Bashir (22 June 1994 – 15 March 2015) was a Pakistani layman and a former student of the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore, Pakistan. In December 2014, he joined the security team in charge of protecting the Church of Saint John in Lahore, in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Youhanabad. On Sunday, 15 March 2015, he blocked a suicide bomber who was about to enter the church. The bomber detonated his bomb outside the church, killing both of them. In January 2022, he was named a Servant of God by Pope Francis, and the cause for his beatification was opened. Bashir was born in the village of Risalpur. He was the second-youngest child and had an older sister and three brothers. As an infant, he was physically malnourished and struggled to survive his first summer alive. Due to religious persecution against Christians in the area, his family moved across the country to Lahore. He studied at Salesian schools in Pakistan in Youhanabad, the Christian quarter of the city of Lahore. In 2014 he volunteered as a security guard for the Church of Saint John. Being just over 18, he was the youngest security guard at the church and had to receive special permission from the priest. On 15 March 2015, two suicide bombers went to the Church of Saint John and the Christ Church of the Church of Pakistan, an Anglican church. Bashir, who was guarding the Church of Saint John on that day and having heard the explosion at the Anglican church, identified the bomber and stopped him at the door. Akash's last words were "If I have to die, I'll die, but I won't let you in." He hugged the suicide bomber before the bomb exploded, killing him and two other Christians. Inside the church were roughly 1500 people, all but three of whom went unharmed. Pope Francis named him a "Servant of God" for the sacrifice he made in saving innocent human lives from this terrorist attack.