By Philippe Pullella
AWALI, Bahrain (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Friday called on devout leaders to help pull the world off the “edge of a sensitive precipice” and oppose a new arms race he said redefines the spheres of influence of the Cold War era.
Francis spoke on his first full day in Bahrain as he closed a forum on the East-West discussion promoted by the king of the Gulf country where, Saudi Arabia, Christians can practice their religion publicly in churches.
The stopover is part of the pope’s policy to link up with the Islamic world after a historic stopover in Abu Dhabi in 2019, the first through a pope in the Arabian Peninsula. He has climbed into a dozen Muslim-majority states since his election in 2013.
Francis, who suffers from a knee disease that forces him to use a wheelchair and cane, articulated his speech around the role of religions in peace, disarmament and social justice.
“After two terrible global wars, a Cold War that has kept the global in suspense for decades, catastrophic conflicts taking position across the globe, and amid accusations, threats and condemnations, we continue to stand on the edge of a sensitive precipice and I need to fall,” he said in a gleaming marble courtyard of the royal palace.
Apparently referring to Ukraine, Francis condemned a place where “some potentates are caught in a resolute struggle for partisan interests, reviving outdated rhetoric, redrawing spheres of influence and opposing blocs. “
RELIGIONS CANNOT SUPPORT WAR
Francis, who supports a blanket ban on nuclear weapons and has condemned the global arms trade, said devout leaders cannot help in wars, an obvious reference to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, who enthusiastically aided Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and whom the pope has implicitly criticized before.
Speaking to the pope, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa unanimously called for avoiding war between Russia and Ukraine and for a “serious discussion for the good of all humanity. “
The pope echoed the call, as did the third speaker, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb, grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque and University, who signed the 2019 “Human Fraternity” document, a historic manifesto on the role of religions in the search. for peace.
Francis, naming any country, also condemned the financing of terrorism.
On Friday afternoon, Francis addressed Bahrain’s Muslim Council of Elders in the courtyard of the royal mosque, where he praised Muslim leaders who “see extremism as a danger that corrodes the original religion” and called for more debate between Islam and religions.
“We will have to put a long journey of fraternity before a beyond antagonism, overcoming old prejudices and misunderstandings in the call of the One who is the source of peace,” he said.
A small child recited a verse from the Qur’an and a woman read a passage from the Old Testament.
Francis later presided over a prayer service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, the church on the Arabian Peninsula and one of two churches serving Bahrain’s small Catholic network of about 160,000 people.
(Reporting through Philip Pullella; Editing through John Stonestreet and Alison Williams)
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