MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up his first papal visit to Bahrain Sunday by encouraging priests and nuns to continue serving the Gulf kingdom’s small Catholic flock. In particular, he referred to his prisoners and said that “the way those ‘little ones’ are treated is a measure of the dignity and hope of a society. “
Francis again raised the plight of prisoners in Bahrain in the final test of his four-day journey. Human rights teams had suggested Francis use his stopover in Bahrain to call for an end to capital punishment and protect political prisoners, many of whom have been taking place since Bahrain violently crushed 2011 Arab Spring protests with neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Francis praised the criminal ministry carried out through some of Bahrain’s Catholic Carmelite nuns at an assembly with clergy and nuns at the Church of the Sacred Heart in the capital Manama. Sister Rose Celine told Francis that her congregation works particularly with inmates, providing direction and support. Devoted address.
Francis thanked him for his ministry and recalled that every time he meets detainees he asks himself the same question: “Why not them and me?
“Caring for prisoners belongs to everyone, as a human community, because how those ‘less’ are treated is a measure of the dignity and hope of a society,” he said.
Francis has long maintained a prison ministry, keeping in touch with Argentine inmates he met when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires. He visits prisons during his trips abroad and has celebrated Holy Thursday liturgies with inmates from the Rome area, but no such assembly was planned during his vacation in Bahrain.
The Bahraini government maintains that it respects human rights and freedom of expression, and that its corrupt justice formula complies with foreign laws. However, activist teams have continuously criticized the state of prisons and prisoners during years of repression of dissent on the island.
According to Bahrain’s Institute for Rights and Democracy, Bahrain ended a de facto moratorium on the death penalty in 2017 and has since executed six prisoners. The organization and Human Rights Watch have documented a “dramatic increase” in the number of death sentences handed down. Since 2011, with another 26 people lately on death row, part of them for political activities.
Arriving in Bahrain on Thursday, Francis urged the government to back the death penalty and ensure that the fundamental human rights of all citizens are guaranteed. The government told The Associated Press that the country has a “zero-tolerance policy toward department discrimination, persecution or sale based on ethnicity, culture or faith. “However, the crackdown has largely targeted the island’s Shiite majority and those calling for government reforms.
___
The Associated Press’ devoted policy comes through AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with investment from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is only guilty of this content.