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Sunni Muslim leaders in the Persian Gulf kingdom have been criticized through major foreign human rights organizations, as well as the U. S. State Department. The small nation.
In a deal with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and other government officials, Francis, the first pontiff to set foot in the kingdom, cited the country’s own constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on gender, origin, language, faith or creed.
These commitments, the Pope said, “must be implemented consistently, so that devout freedom is global and not limited to freedom of worship; that equivalent dignity and equivalent opportunities for the organisation and for the individual are specifically identified; There is no form of discrimination and basic human rights are not violated but promoted. “
In particular, the Pope noted the recent use of the death penalty in the country. Bahrain’s de facto moratorium on capital punishment ended in 2017. Since then, six more people have been executed.
“I think first of all of the right to life, of the desire to guarantee this right, adding to those who are punished, whose lives will not have to be taken from them,” Francis said.
According to a 2021 report, death sentences have skyrocketed over the past decade by more than six hundred percent, following the occasions of the 2011 Arab Spring, which included protests in Bahrain. Since then, the country has been heavily criticized for its violent repression and imprisonment of Shiite protesters, the government has continuously denied the allegations.
Before the pope’s arrival in the country, a senior Vatican official told reporters he expects the pope to privately ask the king to release some of the country’s political prisoners at some point during the visit.
In a country where nearly a portion of its 1. 8 million people are migrant workers settled in the kingdom from the Middle East, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, Bahrain has some of the world’s levels of migration.
Francis praised the country for its continued reception of immigrants who have resettled here in search of greater economic opportunities. But, in a position where human rights organizations have also documented wage theft and disparities in the physical care of migrants, the pope also warned that all Bahraini citizens must be treated with equal dignity and respect.
“Let us ensure that operating situations are safe and dignified, that they herald rather than obstruct the cultural and non-secular expansion of people; and that serve to promote social cohesion, to obtain advantages of life and progress not unusual for each”. one country,” the pope said.
Work, he said, “is not only obligatory to earn a living: it is a right, indispensable for private integral progress and the formation of a de facto human society. “
Francis’ main reason for visiting the country is to participate in the “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence,” where on Nov. 4 he will give a keynote address to some two hundred interfaith leaders attending the summit.
Bahrain, a country whose cities were built on the desert sand with state-of-the-art skyscrapers and influenced by diverse cultures, Francis said, “has been a meeting place among other peoples. “
At a time when the world is witnessing “the great spread of indifference and mutual distrust, the emergence of rivalries and conflicts that we hoped belonged to the past, and the bureaucracy of populism, extremism and imperialism endangering the security of all,” the pope said it is even more important that such meetings take place.
“Despite progress and so much bureaucracy of social and clinical achievement, cultural disparity between other parts of the world is developing and conflict-destroying attitudes are preferred to opportunities for fruitful encounters,” Francis said.
The pope’s remarks were delivered at the opulent Royal Palace in Sakhir, home of Bahrain’s King Hamad, who has ruled since 1999. In 2002, Hamad blamed implementing a new constitution, which declared the kingdom a constitutional monarchy.
While the pope praised the oil-rich kingdom for its record of being the first in the region to give women the right to vote in elections and establish schools for them to attend, he said the paintings of deepening their commitment to human rights will have to stay in focus.
“Authentic, human and integral progression is measured first and foremost,” the pope said, fearing the marginalized, especially migrants and prisoners.
During his roughly 20-minute remarks, the pope also spoke about the fear of wars raging around the world, adding to neighboring Yemen, and the need for greater foreign cooperation to combat climate change.
“How many trees felled, how many ecosystems razed, how many seas polluted by our insatiable human greed, which then bites us again!” the Pope lamented.
“Let us work tirelessly to confront this dramatic emergency and take concrete, forward-thinking decisions encouraged by the fear of generations in the long term, before it is too late and their long term is compromised!” he added, noting that he hopes that next week the UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, will unite foreign netpaintings in this regard.
During the 5-hour adventure from Rome to Bahrain, the Pope addressed his standard greeting to the sixty journalists accompanying him. The pope said that because of his persistent knee pain, he would allow reporters to greet him one by one as he remained seated. , who taking his same old ride in the cockpit of the plane.
On Nov. 4, after his meeting with interfaith leaders, Francis will meet with the Muslim Council of Elders, a foreign organization, and preside over an ecumenical prayer service at the largest Catholic cathedral in the Persian Gulf.