Lahore Archdiocesan Vicar General Father Asif Sardar announced the appointment of Archbishop Benny Mario Travas of Karachi as the apostolic administrator of Lahore on Aug. 15.
“We pray for our archbishop… God grant him good health; always guide him. He is going on a sabbatical,” Sardar told Catholics at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore during the Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Sardar did not specify the reason for removing the archbishop from the administrative role of the archdiocese in the capital of Punjab province, where almost half of Pakistan’s 1.3 million Catholics live.
Church officials refused to comment about Shaw’s removal to UCA News.
However, the 66-year-old archbishop has been facing allegations of sex abuse and being party to financial fraud for some time.
In August 2022, a Catholic priest suspended by Shaw accused him of homosexuality in a video message posted on social media. Sardar, at the time, dismissed it as concocted and said, “There is no truth” in it.
Sardar’s official announcement comes a month after a Christian-run YouTube channel, National News Nam, reported that Shaw was suspended for his alleged irregularities.
“His nephew was involved in corruption in the education board. Many priests of Lahore sent letters and emails to the pope referring to the corruption and dishonesty of Bishop Shaw,” the channel reported on July 13.
“He misused his authority to sell church properties and transferred the money in the name of his brother and nephew. He will be permanently settling in the US,” the channel said.
No official is known to have challenged the channel's claims so far.
Francis Sodagar, the channel's director, said they had access to “leaked information.” But the Lahore archdiocese “is in a state of denial. Nobody says anything,” Sodagar told UCA News.
Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, also denied receiving “any official information” about the suspension.
“I am not sure what the status of the Archbishop Shaw will be now,” he told UCA News.
When UCA News contacted them, officials of the Apostolic Nunciature and National Bishops Conference refused to comment on Archbishop Shaw's status.
However, on condition of anonymity, an official from Lahore Archdiocese confirmed Shaw has been suspended.
Shaw has been requesting the Vatican “to delay announcements for months. The Archdiocese tried to avoid shaming and acted business as usual with regular ordinations and pastoral visits by their archbishop.”
“This is the first of its kind in the Church of Pakistan. The officials do not know how to respond to the situation," the official told UCA News.
Shaw has courted several controversies since becoming archbishop of Lahore in 2013.
In 2017, he faced public backlash for allowing Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and present Chief Minister of Punjab, to use Lahore Cathedral for a political address during an election campaign.
The backlash prompted a Church ban on political speeches and activities in church buildings in the Lahore Archdiocese.
Pakistan has an estimated 2.4 million Christians, and 80 percent of them are in Punjab, the country’s most populous province.