Login Register
Follow Us

Pope arrives in UAE for historic visit

ABU DHABI:Pope Francis landed in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for the first ever visit by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula — the birthplace of Islam.

Show comments

Abu Dhabi, February 3 

Pope Francis landed in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for the first ever visit by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula — the birthplace of Islam. The pope touched down in Abu Dhabi for the 48-hour trip during which he will meet leading Muslim clerics and hold an open-air mass for some 135,000 Catholics.

The pontiff will take part in an interreligious conference on Monday, meeting Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's prestigious seat of learning. Hours before he flies back to Rome on Tuesday, he will lead mass in a stadium in Abu Dhabi — set to be the largest gathering ever in the UAE, according to local media.

His visit comes with the UAE engaged in a long-running military campaign in Yemen and embroiled in a diplomatic spat with nearby Qatar. Before heading to the Gulf, the pontiff urged warring parties in Yemen, where the UAE backs the government against Houthi rebels, to respect a truce agreement.

“I appeal to all parties concerned and to the international community to allow the urgent respect of established accords to ensure the distribution of food,” he said.

“The population is exhausted by the lengthy conflict and a great many children are suffering from hunger, but cannot access food depots, he added.

“The cry of these children and their parents rises up to God.”  Nearly one million Catholic migrants reside in the UAE, mostly hailing from the Philippines and India. Around 1,35,000 have secured tickets to Tuesday’s mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium. On Sunday morning, hundreds of Catholics queued in drizzling rain outside St Joseph’s Cathedral in Abu Dhabi to get their passes. — AFP

Turning a page in Christian-Muslim relations

  • Pope Francis is travelling to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored by the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam
  • It’s the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning that trains clerics and scholars from around the world
  • It will be the fifth meeting between Francis and el-Tayeb, evidence that Al-Azhar’s freeze in relations with the Holy See sparked by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 comments linking Islam to violence has thoroughly thawed
Show comments
Show comments

Top News

Most Read In 24 Hours