Pope Francis lands in Bahrain on Thursday afternoon for a four-day visit. He is the first high-profile visitor to the tiny Gulf Kingdom and will reiterate his plea for dialogue with Islam there, amid calls from human rights organisations for him to bring up human rights issues.
At 16, Pope Francis will attend a formal reception.
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, meets at the Sakhir Palace at 14:45 local time (13:45 GMT), at which point he makes his first statement in front of officials and diplomats.
In 2000, Bahrain, which has a population of 1.4 million, established diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
According to the Vatican, it is home to roughly 80,000 Catholic Christians, the most of whom are from Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Western nations.
Following a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2019, this is the Pope’s third-ninth overseas trip since his election and his second to the Gulf area.
The assurance of his meetings in Bahrain will come from the interfaith dialogue, which is vehemently supporting him.
“I depart tomorrow (Thursday) on a lovely trip to the Kingdom of Bahrain, a voyage under the banner of dialogue,” the Pope wrote in a tweet on Wednesday.
I’ll take part in a discussion about how the East and the West must inevitably converge for the benefit of peaceful coexistence between people. ”
The Bahrain and West Dialogue Forum for Human Coexistence, whose operations begin on Thursday morning, is the context for the Pope’s visit.
The “Council of Muslim Elders” will gather at the Al-Sakhir Mosque on Friday, and the Pope will address them.
Imam Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, who signed with him in Abu Dhabi, will also encounter a historical record on the human brother.
In Manama, Sheikh Abdul Latif Al-Mahmoud, a member of Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, remarked, “The two religious and Christian meetings, I think it is an honour for Bahrain.”
“We welcome His Holiness the Pope’s arrival to Bahrain,” he continued, “and look for ways to convey love and familiarity among people.”
Pope Francis visits Bahrain to foster communication with Muslims
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