This is the first time the head of the Catholic Church has visited Bahrain and it is Pope Francis’ time for an Arabian Gulf country.
During his trip to Abu Dhabi in 2019, the Catholic leader signed a document selling the Catholic-Muslim fraternity. The stopover in Bahrain was also aimed at gaining better ties with the world of Islam.
Bahrain has a small Catholic network of 161,000 other people in a country of 1. 5 million others. Catholics are typically Asian immigrants, especially from the Philippines and India, according to 2020 Vatican statistics.
Bahrain’s government has been criticized for human rights violations against migrant works, accusations the Bahraini government denies.
After his arrival on Thursday, Pope Francis called for an end to discrimination and human rights violations. It is important that “fundamental human rights are not violated but promoted,” the pope said at the royal palace in Sakhir.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa also delivered a speech at the Royal Palace. He said his country protects the freedom of all religions, allowing believers to “carry out their rituals and identify their places of worship. “
On his special day in the Arabian Gulf state, Pope Francis delivered the final address of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence, which was also attended by Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Cairo’s prestigious al-Azhar University. . .
Pope Francis on Friday joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders in calling on the world’s major religions to work in combination for peace, saying at an interfaith summit that faith should never be used to justify violence.
Addressing the devout leaders, he said, “We live in a time when humanity, hooked as never before, seems far more divided than united,” adding: “We remain on the edge of a sensitive precipice and need to fall.
“It is a striking paradox that, while the majority of the world’s population is united to face the same difficulties, suffering severe food, ecological and pandemic crises, as well as scandalous global injustice, a few potentates are engaged in a struggle resolved by partisan interests,” Francis said.
“It seems that we are witnessing a dramatic and childish scenario: on the lawn of humanity, to cultivate what surrounds us, we play with fire, missiles and bombs, cannons that bring pain and death, covering our not unusual house with ash and hatred. . “
King Hamad called for a constant effort to prevent Russia’s war in Ukraine and announce peace negotiations, “for the good of all mankind. “Grand Imam Al-Tayeb also called for an end to the Russian war “to save the lives of other innocent people who have nothing to do with this violent tragedy. “