Sainthood cause opens for Pakistani security guard who sacrificed his life to stop suicide bomber

When a suicide bomber attempted to enter a Catholic church in Pakistan in 2015, a 20-year-old volunteer security guard blocked him.

“I will die but I will not let you go in,” he reportedly told the terrorist armed with explosives. The attacker then set off a bomb, immediately killing himself and the man now recognized as a candidate for canonization: Akash Bashir.

Because of his actions, the church — with more than 1,000 Catholics inside — was saved from a direct blast.

Bashir died on March 15, 2015, when suicide bombers attacked St. John’s Catholic Church and Christ ‎Church of the Church of Pakistan. Located in Lahore, the churches stand in one of the country’s largest Christian neighborhoods.