Pope Francis makes history

Pope Francis yesterday called for an end to wars in the Middle East during the first visit by the head of the Catholic church to the birthplace of Islam -- the Arabian Peninsula. Francis, who has made outreach to Muslim communities a cornerstone of his papacy, is on an historic three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates. He is scheduled to hold an open-air mass today for 135,000 of the Muslim country’s million Catholic residents, set to be the largest ever public gathering in the Gulf state. Yesterday, the pope held talks in Abu Dhabi with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb -- imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar, Islam’s prestigious seat of learning -- before delivering an address at an interfaith meeting.

In his address, the pontiff pushed the need for justice, equality of citizens’ rights and an end to all wars, including in Yemen. The pope said all religious leaders had a “duty to reject every nuance of approval from the word war”. “I am thinking in particular of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya,” he said at the interfaith meeting attended by Sheikh Ahmed and UAE leaders. Sheikh Ahmed, who stressed in a speech that religion must never be used to justify violence, and the pope signed on Monday a document that Al-Azhar and the Vatican will work together to fight extremism.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, one of the most powerful rulers in the seven emirates, on Monday gifted the pope a deed for the plot of land on which the first church in the UAE was built. Pope Francis in turn gave the crown prince a framed medallion of the meeting between St. Francis Assisi -- the pope’s namesake -- and the Sultan of Egypt Malek al-Kamel, in 1219. The pontiff called for “concrete opportunities for (interfaith) meeting, not only here but in the entire beloved region, a focal point of the Middle East”.

“I look forward to societies where people of different beliefs have the same right of citizenship and where only in the case of violence in any of its forms is that right removed,” he said. Muslims make up nearly four fifths of the UAE’s population, but the country is also home to nearly a million Catholics, according to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia. Migrants from Asian countries make up about 65pc of the population. The UAE is home to churches, Hindu temples and a place of prayer that serves as a synagogue. Bahrain and Qatar are home to one Catholic church each while Oman, Kuwait and Yemen each have four and the UAE has eight Catholic churches.

Before heading to the Gulf on Sunday, Pope Francis urged warring parties in Yemen to respect a truce agreement and allow deliveries of food aid. “The population is exhausted by the lengthy conflict and a great many children are suffering from hunger, but cannot access food depots,” he said. “The cry of these children and their parents rises up to God.” The UAE is a member of the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group in both Syria and Iraq. The UAE has eight Catholic churches. Oman, Kuwait and Yemen each have four.

Qatar and Bahrain have one each, while Saudi Arabia bans all non-Muslim places of worship. Muslims make up nearly four fifths of the UAE’s population, but the country is also home to nearly a million Catholics, according to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia. Migrants from Asian countries make up about 65 percent of the population.