Pope's Bahrain visit focusses on religious harmony

On November 3, 2022, Pope Francis accompanied by a papal delegation along with representatives from Italian and international media travelled to Bahrain on a special ITA Airways flight Airbus A330.

His last event in Bahrain was at Sacred Heart church, which was built in 1939 on land donated by the then-ruler, putting Bahrain on the road to becoming one of the most accommodating countries in the region for non-Muslims.

Bahrain has two Catholic churches, including a modern cathedral that is the largest church on the Arabian Peninsula, and has about 1,60,000 Catholics, most of them foreign workers.

There are around 60 priests working among an estimated 2 million Catholics spread across four countries in North Arabia, said Bishop Paul Hinder, the Vatican's apostolic vicar for the area, citing sometimes 'very difficult conditions' for those who serve the community due to restrictions in some states.

During his visit, Pope Francis addressed the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue, a conference that focus on the theme "East and West for Human Coexistence", on his policy of improving ties with the Islamic world following a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2019. At the East-West dialogue, the pontiff focused on the role of religions in promoting peace and disarmament. He said, "Worldly divisions, but also ethnic, cultural and ritual differences, cannot injure or compromise the unity of the Spirit."

He also celebrated a public Mass at the Bahrain National Stadium where Catholics in Bahrain and from the other countries of the Vicariate of Northern Arabia gathered in large numbers. He delivered a message of increasing peace and understanding all over the world and to entrust the apostolic journey to Bahrain to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title "Our Lady of Arabia".

The pope stressed human rights in his first address in Bahrain, speaking against the death penalty and calling for "ensuring respect and concern for all those who feel most at the margins of society, such as immigrants and prisoners".

Foreigners, mostly low-paid migrant workers, form the backbone of economies in the oil-producing region. Thousands of Catholics in Bahrain and from around the Gulf poured into a stadium to hear the Pope say Mass.

At the East-West dialogue, the pontiff focused on the role of religions in promoting peace and disarmament. Earlier he touched on the 'forgotten war' in Yemen where seven years of conflict has caused a dire humanitarian crisis.

At the end of the church service, Pope Francis thanked King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for Bahrain's "exquisite hospitality". King Hamad and Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar mosque and university who was also in Bahrain, greeted the pontiff at the airport before he left for Rome.

Pope Francis departed from Bahrain on Sunday after a four-day trip that culminated with a visit to the Gulf's oldest Catholic church, where he told bishops, priests and nuns to remain united as they ministered to the faithful in the majority Muslim area. The Holy Father flew out of Bahrain on a Gulf Air Dreamliner Boeing 787 on the November 7, 2022.