Zayed Sports City to host Pope’s public Mass

Pope Francis will hold a public Mass at Zayed Sports City when he visits Abu Dhabi in February.

The Mass will start at 10.30am on February 5. Organisers are expecting more than 100,000 people to attend.

The itinerary for the pontiff’s historic visit to the UAE was revealed yesterday, and it is a packed schedule.

After arriving late in the evening from Rome on February 3, the Pope will be met at the Presidential Airport by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

The next day, Sheikh Mohamed will host a reception at the Presidential Palace, to be followed by a meeting with the Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and an inter-faith meeting at the Founder’s Memorial.

Much of the visit will be private, but the public Mass will offer multinational Roman Catholic congregations far from home a rare chance to see the leader of their church in person. Details about tickets and entry are still being worked out. Pope Francis will fly back to Rome after the Mass.

Paul Hinder, Bishop of Southern Arabia, said people of different religions needed to be able to live side by side, something that Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father, believed in.

“Sheikh Zayed is known to have instilled the virtue of human coexistence in the people of the UAE,” Mr Hinder said.

“The Pope is a realist and knows that in a world of migration, human beings have to learn to live together, whether Christians among Muslims or Muslims among Christians.

“And Muslims and Christians among non-believers and among those who follow other big religions – we have to learn to coexist,” he said.

It is the first visit by a pontiff to the Arabian Gulf and is expected to usher in a new era in interfaith relations between the UAE and the Vatican. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said the visit would help build peace around the world. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said: “We look forward to a historic visit, through which we will seek dialogue on the peaceful coexistence among peoples.”