Apostolic visit is significant in a world characterized by tensions, oppositions and conflicts, says Cardinal Parolin
A woman walks past a cut-out image of Pope Francis in Bahrain’s capital Manama (Photo: AFP)
Pope Francis will embark on his first apostolic visit to Bahrain on Nov 3—6 and join a series of events in the cities of Manama and Awali to promote “a message of peace, cohesion, and unity,” said top Vatican officials.
Ahead of the trip, in an interview with Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and Vatican News, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the apostolic visit is significant “in a world characterized by tensions, oppositions and conflicts.”
The visit is “a sign of unity at a particularly delicate, complex and in some ways tragic moment in our history,” Cardinal Parolin said.
“It is an invitation to dialogue, an invitation to encounter between East and West, in a reality, such as that of Bahrain, which is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious reality; hence the ability to live together, the ability to collaborate even in a composite reality such as that which characterizes that country,” he noted.
It is Pope Francis’ 39th international trip since becoming the supreme spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. This comes about three years after his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2019, conflict-torn Iraq in 2021, and Egypt in 2017.
During the UAE trip, the pope signed the highly acclaimed Document on Human Fraternity, a Christian-Muslim manifesto for peace, with Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar of Egypt.
“A precious step along the path of fraternity and interreligious dialogue”
During this week’s visit, the pope will attend the closing ceremony of the first-ever Bahrain Forum for Dialogue, where more than 200 religious leaders from various parts of the world are expected to join on Nov. 3-4. This is the second major interfaith gathering Francis will attend after joining the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan last month.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has formally invited Pope Francis to visit the country and attend the forum.
Meanwhile, during a media briefing at the Vatican, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that Pope Francis’ visit focuses on twin themes of “encounter” and “encouragement” for Catholics in the region.
“The visit represents a precious step along the path of fraternity and interreligious dialogue,” Bruni said.
The war in Europe and in various countries prompted the pope to have an “encounter with religious leaders” which aims to “continue the search for allies in a common desire for peace in our world,” he noted.
About 70 percent of Bahrain’s estimated 1.7 million population are Muslims. Christians account for about 15 percent, mostly immigrants. There are roughly about 80,000 Catholics in Bahrain including 1,000 Bahraini Catholics, making it one of the few Persian Gulf states to have a local Christian population.
Most Catholics are expatriate workers hailing from India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, as well as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.
While Bahrain is known for tolerance and religious pluralism, rights groups have urged Pope Francis to press Bahrain to end its human rights abuses, commute death sentences and impose a moratorium on capital punishment and ban torture and ill-treatment of prisoners.
The pope will have a packed schedule in Bahrain, which has completed preparations to welcome him including the launch of an official website dedicated to the visit.
Following his arrival at the Sakhir Air Base in the central Bahraini city of Awali on Nov 3, Pope Francis will pay a courtesy visit to King Hamad at the Sakhir Royal Palace and meet with Bahrain’s authorities, civil society, and diplomatic corps.
On the morning of Nov 4, the pope will attend the closing session of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue. Later, in the afternoon, he will meet privately with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, then hold an audience with members of the Muslim Council of Elders, Vatican News reported.
The pope will then attend an ecumenical meeting and prayer for peace in the Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral in Awali, the biggest Cathedral Church on the Arabian Peninsula with a two-tiered seating capacity of 2,300 people that opened on Dec 9 last year.
On the morning of Nov 5, Pope Francis will celebrate a public Mass in the Bahrain National Stadium where an estimated 160,000 are expected to participate. In the afternoon he will join a youth gathering at the Sacred Heart School.
The pontiff will wrap up his visit on the morning of Nov 6 with a prayer meeting with local bishops, priests, religious, seminarians, and pastoral workers at the Sacred Heart Church in the capital Manama before flying back to Rome.
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