Pope’s Bahrain visit a precious step on path of fraternity: Vatican

Agencies | Vatican City                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

A top Vatican official yesterday termed the upcoming apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Bahrain as a “precious step on the path of fraternity.”

Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, said this as he offered an overview of the Pope’s 39th Apostolic Journey abroad during a press conference at Holy See Press Office yesterday.

The journey, he said, aims to strengthen inter-religious dialogue and encourage local Catholics. Pope Francis is returning to the Middle East on November 3-6 for the second time in a few years for a visit to Bahrain.

The 39th Apostolic Journey also makes Bahrain the 58th country visited by Francis as Pope. The Director of the Holy See Press Office pointed out that Pope Francis will be the first Pope to visit Bahrain. He said the papal visit focuses on the twin themes of “encounter” and “encouragement” for Catholics in the region.

Pope Francis will attend the closing of the first-ever “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence”, which will see around 200 interfaith leaders gathered to promote fraternity. “The visit represents a precious step along the path of fraternity and interreligious dialogue,” said Bruni.

Bruno noted that war—both in Europe and in various countries—will form another backdrop to the Pope’s encounter with religious leaders. The goal, he added, is to continue the search for allies in a common desire for peace in our world.

Pope Francis, Bruni said, was invited to attend the Bahrain Forum and visit the Middle Eastern country by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Yet, the papal visit is not merely focused on interreligious dialogue. As the shepherd of the Universal Church, Pope Francis travels to Bahrain to meet with the Catholic community, a majority of whom are foreign-born.

Of the roughly 80,000 Catholic faithful, around 1,000 Catholics are Bahraini citizens, making it one of the few Gulf states to have a local Christian population. Most Catholics are expatriate workers hailing from India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, as well as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.

Of the Pope’s seven public encounters on the 4-day visit, four are meetings with various sanctions of the local Catholic Church, including young people, clergy and religious, and Catholics from neighbouring countries.