New Apostolic Administrator for Islamabad Rawalpindi Diocese

Bishop Joseph Arshad has been appointed Apostolic Administrator of Islamabad Rawalpindi Diocese.

Pope Francis, on Saturday appointed Bp. Joseph Arshad, the present bishop of Faisalabad as also the Apostolic Administrator of the vacant see of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, under the supervision of the Holy See.
The See of Islamabad-Rawalpindi was rendered vacant with the death of Bishop Rufin Anthony, who died on October, 17, 2016.

Arshad was born on August 25, 1964 in Lahore. After completing school, he began his priestly education at St. Mary’s Minor Seminary, Lahore. He continued his studies at Christ the King Seminary in Karachi. After his ordination on November 1, 1991, he was appointed Parochial Vicar of St. Joseph ‘s Church and also given charge of St. Peter’s School in Gujranwala. For a while he also studied journalism.

In 1995, he went to Rome for Canon Law studies at the Pontifical Urban University and then underwent training as a Vatican diplomat at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy.

His doctoral Dissertation “The responsibility of a diocesan bishop in defending the unity of the universal Church according to c. 392” was published by the Urbaniana University Press in 1999.

He was the first Pakistani priest to join the Vatican diplomatic service. From 1999 to 2002 he served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Malta. From then until 2010, he served at the Apostolic Nunciatures in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Madagascar.