Cardinal-designate Joseph Coutts of Karachi, 72, will be the second cardinal from Pakistan in the church’s history. The first, Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro of Karachi, died in 1994.
Cardinal-designate Coutts has served as president of the bishops’ conference of Pakistan and of Caritas Pakistan. His episcopal motto is “Harmony,” and he is known for his efforts in promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue in a nation where less than 2 percent of the population is Christian. He has been a leading voice for the reform of an anti-Islam blasphemy law, which he criticizes as being easy to manipulate for personal gain and to harass non-Muslims.
Born July 21, 1945, in Amritsar, India, he studied at Christ the King Seminary in Karachi and was ordained to the priesthood in Lahore in 1971. After graduate studies in Rome, he served as a professor at Christ the King Seminary and later served as rector of a minor seminary in Lahore.
St. John Paul II named him coadjutor bishop of Hyderabad in 1988, and he became head of the diocese two years later. He served as bishop of Faisalabad from 1998 to 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI named him archbishop of Karachi.
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