Pope appeals for tolerance as he makes history with first papal Mass in Arabian Peninsula
POPE FRANCIS ministered to the thriving Catholic community in the United Arab Emirates as he concluded his historic visit with the first-ever papal Mass in the Arabian Peninsula.
A day after making a broad appeal for Christian and Muslim leaders to work together to promote peace and reject war, Francis celebrated what some considered the largest show of public Christian worship on the peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.
Cheers erupted inside and outside the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi as Francis arrived and moved through the crowd in his open-sided Popemobile, as chants of “Viva il papa” (Long live the pope) and “We love you!” echoed from the crowd, estimated to be around 135,000.
Organisers said faithful from 100 countries would attend, as well as 4,000 Muslims – evidence of the enormous diversity among the nine million people who live in the UAE.
“We have to say it is really a big event for us which we never expected,” said Sumitha Pinto, an Indian native who has lived in the UAE for nearly 20 years. She attended the Mass with her husband and four sons, the youngest of whom held up sign with the pope’s photo that read: “Welcome Pope Francis. Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.”
The Emirates’ Catholic community is something of an anomaly when the wider Middle East has seen an exodus of Christians fleeing persecution at the hands of hardline Islamicists.
The Catholic Church estimates as many as one million of the over nine million people living in the UAE are Catholic, nearly all of them foreigners.
Most are Filipino and Indian, many of whom have left behind families in order to work, many suffering from exploitation.
In his homily, delivered in Italian and translated into Arabic with English subtitles on giant screens, Francis made a direct reference to the sufferings many endure.
“It is most certainly not easy for you to live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones, and perhaps also feeling uncertainty about the future,” he said. “But the Lord is faithful and does not abandon his people.”