Women stand next to large portrait of Ruth Pfau, a German physician and nun, at the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center where army troops prepare to transport Pfau’s body for a funeral in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017. Ruth Pfau, a German nun who devoted her life to combatting leprosy in Pakistan, is buried with full state honors, in an unprecedented service for a foreign Christian in the Muslim-majority country

KARACHI, Pakistan – Ruth Pfau, a German nun who devoted her life to combatting leprosy in Pakistan, was buried with full state honors on Saturday, August 19, in an unprecedented service for a foreign Christian in the Muslim-majority country. A medical doctor belonging to the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, Sister Ruth — who landed in Pakistan in 1960 due to visa problems on her way to India and went on to help Pakistan combat leprosy — died Aug. 10 in Karachi at the age of 87. KARACHI, Pakistan — As the government of Pakistan and the Church prepared for an unprecedented state funeral for a Catholic nun — Sister Ruth Katharina Martha Pfau — Aug. 19 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Karachi, her associates, Church officials and the media paid glowing tributes to the nun of German origin. Working with the government, Pfau expanded leprosy treatment centers in more than 150 cities and towns across Pakistan, training doctors, treating thousands of victims and helping establish a national program to bring the disease under control.
Pakistan holds a state funeral for German-born Catholic nun Ruth Pfau, known as "Pakistan's Mother Teresa," who devoted her life to eradicating leprosy in the South Asian country.