Joseph Coutts

Cardinal Coutts has made no documented public statements on marriage, sexuality, Fiducia supplicans, abortion or euthanasia; his public ministry in Pakistan has centred on interfaith harmony and minority rights. In his preaching on the synodal path he has stressed God's mercy and 'not to reject or exclude anybody', without addressing doctrinal questions.

No public statements by Cardinal Coutts on the traditional Latin Mass, Traditionis custodes or liturgical style could be found. Archbishop of Karachi from 2012 to 2021 and president of the Pakistan bishops' conference from 2011 to 2017, he is known mainly for interfaith and social work rather than liturgical positions.

Coutts has long criticised Pakistan's blasphemy law, saying it 'can easily be misused' against Christians and Muslims alike. In 2020 he urged the government to treat kidnappings, forced conversions and forced marriages of minority girls as crimes and matters of 'fundamental human rights, rather than making it a religious issue'. In 2024 Pakistan awarded him the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz for social welfare and minority rights.

Created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2018, Coutts called him 'a prophet of our times' and described the synodal path as 'an invitation not to reject or exclude anybody, but to take everyone along'. In 2021 he praised the Synod on Synodality as a unique universal process, saying Francis was 'breaking away from that pyramidal Church structure'.

Coutts, whose episcopal motto is 'Harmony', is one of Pakistan's leading figures in Christian-Muslim dialogue. In 2021 he became the first Catholic elected president of the Christian Study Center in Rawalpindi, which promotes 'understanding of Islam and Christian-Muslim dialogue'. He attended the signing of the Abu Dhabi Document on Human Fraternity in 2019, and in 2024 Pakistan's president honoured him for 'bringing different faiths together'.

Coutts speaks readily and frankly to international media, using concrete cases such as blasphemy accusations against poor families to explain the situation of Pakistan's minorities. Fluent in several languages, he has also publicly criticised the 'duplicity' and 'hypocrisy' of Western policies towards Muslim-majority countries.