Pakistan has won the Ninth Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay Award held on Friday, 8 June 2018 on the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a day reserved for praying for the sanctification of priests worldwide.
The Ninth Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay 2018 award was presented by Rev. Father Nazar Nawab, parish priest of St. Paul’s Parish Karachi, and the local representative of the Worldpriest Global Apostolate for Pakistan, Naveed Anjum, to His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Karachi-Pakistan on Friday 25 January 2019, on the solemn feast of the conversion of St. Paul the Apostle and The Golden Jubilee Celebration Day of St. Paul’s Parish Mehmoodabad Karachi-Pakistan (the biggest Parish of Metropolitan Karachi, Pakistan).
His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Coutts is Pakistan’s second Cardinal, elevated as Cardinal last year on 28 June, by Pope Francis, after twenty years serving with the Church in Pakistan. The first Cardinal of Pakistan, His Eminence Joseph Marie Anthony Cordeiro died on 11 February 1994, having been elevated as Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1978.
There were five apparitions recorded at Guadalupe in Mexico.
The first apparition: At dawn on 9 December 1531, Juan Diego, an Indian convert, was going to Tlatelolco to attend catechism class and hear Mass. As he was passing Tepeyac Hill, he saw a brilliant light on the summit and heard the strains of celestial music. Filled with wonder, he stopped. Then he heard a feminine voice asking him to ascend. When he reached the top he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary standing in the midst of a glorious light, in heavenly splendour. The beauty of her youthful countenance and her look of loving kindness filled Juan Diego with unspeakable happiness as he listened to the words she spoke to him in his native language. She told him she was the perfect and eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, and made known to him her desire that a shrine be built there where she could demonstrate her love, her compassion and her protection. “For I am your merciful Mother”, she said, “to you and to all mankind who love me and trust in me and invoke my help. Therefore, go to the dwelling of the Bishop in Mexico City and say that the Virgin Mary sent you to make known to him her great desire.”
The second apparition: The bishop was reluctant to believe Juan Diego’s story. Juan returned to Tepeyac Hill where he found the Blessed Virgin waiting for him, and told her of his failure. She bade him return to the bishop the next day and repeat her wishes.