On June 15, 2026, the EWTN News portal reported that Punjab authorities in Pakistan seized Ewing Hall, a century-old building belonging to Forman Christian College University (FCCU) in Lahore. What the conciliatory language of the report frames as a mere “property dispute” is, when examined through the lens of unchanging Catholic doctrine on the rights of the Church and the moral law governing civil societies, nothing less than a brazen act of spoliation against the People of God.
The Facts: A Forcible Takeover Masquerading as “Restoration”
The facts, as presented even by the secular source, are damning. The Punjab Board of Revenue seized Ewing Hall, a building constructed in 1916 and tied to the university for over a century. The rector of FCCU, Jonathan Addleton, described the action in its proper terms: a “forcible takeover”. University officials were given a mere 24 hours by telephone to remove movable property, including generators, furniture, and historical artifacts—a logistical impossibility that reveals the punitive and bad-faith nature of the eviction.
The government’s justification, articulated by Information Minister Azma Bokhari, is a textbook example of the sophistry employed by the powerful to dispossess the weak. She claimed the lease had expired and alleged outstanding payments dating back to 1975. Yet, as Reuben Qamar, a pastor at the Presbyterian Church on the FCCU campus, rightly pointed out, the college refused to pay the lease during three decades of illegal nationalization when the building was under government possession. To demand payment for a period during which the state itself illegally held the property is not a legal argument; it is the perpetuation of an injustice.
The government further contends the land was leased for educational purposes and had not been used as such since 2015. However, the building was vacated in 2018 due to structural cracks and the COVID-19 pandemic—a prudent measure to protect life, not an abandonment of purpose. A safety assessment had only recently been completed, indicating the institution’s intent to resume use.
The Historical Context: A Pattern of Persecution
This seizure does not occur in a vacuum. FCCU was founded in 1864 by American Presbyterian missionaries and was nationalized in 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It was returned to church management only in 2003. This history of seizure and reluctant return establishes a clear pattern: the state views church property as a commodity to be exploited, not a sacred trust to be protected.
The EWTN report notes that as of June 2020, 118 church-owned educational institutions remained under provincial government control. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan itself warned that the eviction deadline raised “serious questions about transparency, due process, and the stewardship of shared heritage.” When even secular human rights bodies question the state’s actions, the moral bankruptcy of the seizure is undeniable.
The Catholic Doctrine on Church Property and the Limits of Civil Power
From the perspective of integral Catholic theology, this seizure is not merely a political or legal issue; it is a moral crime that violates the natural law and the divine constitution of society. The Church has always taught that the right to acquire and possess property is a natural right, necessary for the fulfillment of her divine mission.
Pope Leo XIII, in his immortal encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), defends the right of private ownership as a natural right, rooted in the law of nature, which the State cannot abolish. He writes: “The right to property is derived from nature, not from man; and the State has the right to control its use in the interests of the public good, but to destroy it altogether is beyond the power of the State.” The State’s authority is not absolute; it is bounded by the moral law and the rights of the Church.
Furthermore, the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX condemns as an error the proposition that “sacred ministers of the Church and the Roman pontiff are to be absolutely excluded from every charge and dominion over temporal affairs” (Proposition 27), but it equally condemns the proposition that “the civil authority may interfere in matters relating to religion, morality and spiritual government” (Proposition 44). The seizure of a church-run hostel and educational facility is precisely such an unlawful interference. The State has no moral authority to strip the Church of her property, which she holds in trust for the education of youth and the common good of society.
Pope Pius XI, in the encyclical Quas Primas (1925), which we have cited in the source documents, proclaims the universal reign of Christ the King over all nations and all aspects of life. He warns that when nations renounce the reign of Christ, “the foundations of that authority are destroyed” and “the entire human society had to be shaken”. The seizure of church property in Pakistan is a direct consequence of nations refusing to recognize the social reign of Christ the King. When the State places itself above God’s law, it becomes a tyrant, and the spoliation of the Church is its inevitable fruit.
The Symptom of a Deeper Apostasy
The language used by the Pakistani authorities is revealing. They speak of “restoration work” and “heritage revival” while forcibly dispossessing a Christian institution. This is the language of secular modernism, which strips reality of its supernatural dimension and reduces all things—including the sacred mission of the Church—to material and economic categories.
The EWTN report notes that Minority Forum Pakistan convener Nasir William called the seizure a “violation of minority rights” and demanded an investigation. But this framing, while understandable in a secular legal context, misses the deeper point. This is not merely a violation of “minority rights”—a modern, relativistic concept—but a violation of the inherent rights of the Church, which precede and transcend the State. The Church does not ask for “tolerance” or “minority protections” as a concession from the State; she demands justice as a divine right.
The silence of the so-called international community, and indeed of many within the compromised structures of the post-conciliar Church, is deafening. Where are the voices of those who should be thundering against this injustice? Instead, we see a world where Christian institutions are systematically dismantled, and the faithful are told to seek redress through the very legal systems engineered to destroy them.
Conclusion: A Call to Resistance and Restoration
The seizure of Ewing Hall is not an isolated incident; it is part of a global war against the Church and her mission. In Pakistan, as in so many other nations, the State has become an instrument of persecution, cloaking its injustices in the language of law and heritage.
Catholics must recognize that justice and authority belong exclusively to the true Church and the immutable moral law of God. The State has no right to confiscate church property, and any such act is null and void in the eyes of God. The faithful must resist such tyranny, not through violence, but through prayer, sacrifice, and the uncompromising proclamation of the Social Reign of Christ the King.
As Pope Pius XI declared, peace is only possible in the kingdom of Christ. Until nations submit to His law, seizures like that of Ewing Hall will continue, and the Church will suffer. But the Church is built upon the rock of Peter, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. The faithful must hold fast to Tradition, defend the Church’s rights, and trust in the ultimate triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—not through the false messages of Fatima, which divert attention from the real enemies within, but through the unchanging promise of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “In the world you shall have affliction; but take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Source:
Pakistan government takes over historic Christian college building in Lahore (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 15.06.2026