Pope Francis waves as he arrives to hold a mass at Zayed Sports City
Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on February 5, 2019. PHOTO |
TONY GENTILE | REUTERS
Pope Francis held a historic public mass for an estimated
170,000 Catholics at an Abu Dhabi stadium on Tuesday on the first ever
papal visit to the Muslim Gulf.
The pope waved at an
enthusiastic crowd carrying Vatican flags and banners as he drove into
Zayed Sports City Stadium, where an altar with a large cross was set up
for the unprecedented open-air service in a country where worship is
normally allowed only inside churches.
The United Arab
Emirates borders Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, but unlike its
larger neighbour, which outlaws all non-Muslim places of worship, Abu
Dhabi allows Christians among its large migrant workforce to practise
their faith discreetly.
Francis, who has made outreach
to Muslim communities a cornerstone of his papacy, is wrapping up a
historic three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
"How
beautiful it is for brothers to be joined under this sky," said an MC
in Arabic shortly after the pope's arrival around 10:00 am (0600 GMT).
Inside
the stadium, 50,000 Catholics with tickets to the mass cheered the pope
on, with one small group hoisting a pink posterboard which read "We the
Catholics of Yemen love you!".
Another 120,000 were gathered outside, watching via video link on large screens.
A
choir sang hymns as the pope, joined by priests of different
nationalities, began the service, broadcast live on Emirati television.
'Year of Tolerance'
The UAE invited the pope to visit as part of its 2019 "Year of Tolerance" which has its own designated ministry.
Tolerance Minister Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, greeted the crowd at the stadium before the pope's arrival for mass.
Pope Francis' trip has been warmly welcomed by Filipino and Indian Catholics among the UAE's huge migrant workforce.
Asian
nationals make up about 65 percent of the population and are crucial to
all sectors in the Gulf state, from construction to services and
hotels.
The son of Italian immigrants who was raised in
Argentina, Jorge Bergoglio — or Pope Francis — has paid particular
attention to migrants and refugees during his papacy.
More
than 85 percent of the UAE population are expatriates, and about one
million Catholics live in the country, or about 10 percent of the
population.
Troubled Middle East
Tuesday's
mass came a day after the pope called for an end to wars in the
troubled Middle East, including in Yemen and Syria, at a meeting with a
top sheikh and rabbi in the UAE.
All religious leaders
had a "duty to reject every nuance of approval from the word war", he
told the interfaith meeting on Monday.
"I am thinking in particular of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya," he said.
Yemen
is in the grip of what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian
crisis, triggered by the intervention of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their
allies in a civil war between the government and Shiite Muslim rebels.
While
the pope did not openly discuss politics, he called for "the full
recognition" of the rights of people across the Middle East, a potential
reference to communities including Shiites in Saudi Arabia, refugees
and migrants, stateless peoples and other minorities.
"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.
He also
held talks in Abu Dhabi on Monday with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb — imam of
Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning.
The
two religious leaders signed a document on "human fraternity for world
peace and living together", described by the Vatican as an "important
step forward in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims".
It
called for "freedom of belief", the "promotion of a culture of
tolerance", the "protection of places of worship" and "full citizenship"
rights for minorities.
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