Christian leaders have hit out at a newspaper report claiming a priest raped a 14-year-old girl and forced her to have an abortion, saying the accused man is not even a clergyman.

The Express Tribune in its July 20 edition reported the arrest of  the man, “a local priest”, for allegedly raping a Christian girl in Kokianwala, in Punjab province.

The report went on to say that the man also forced the girl to have an abortion which was botched.

The girl’s family says he first raped their daughter several months ago behind the town’s Pentecostal church where he taught at a Sunday school.

He continued the assaults over the next four months threatening he would have her killed if she went to the police, they added.

The girl died last week following emergency surgery after the abortion left her with internal injuries and an infection.

Pastor Sadique Patras  who heads the Pentecostal Church in Faisalabad, denied he was either a Catholic priest or a pastor.

“He was the leader of our prayer group who posed as a pastor on pastoral visits. He said the sex was consensual and denied raping her or threatening her life,” he said.

Father Shafique Hadayat, a spokesman at the Bishop’s House in Faisalabad, said the newspaper report was grossly inaccurate and that the newspaper should have consulted the Catholic Church before publishing the story.

“The headline was a shocker and insulted the Church. The reporter had absolutely no idea about Christian terms and titles,” he said.