Pope Francis yesterday ministered to the thriving Catholic community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as he concluded his historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula with the first-ever papal Mass in the region and a call for his flock to remain meek in following God.
Francis celebrated what some considered the largest show of public Christian worship on the peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.
For the Gulf Arab region where public displays of non-Islamic faith are restricted, the hymns of Halleluja booming out from speakers marked a milestone and evidence of the Emirates’ much touted assertions of its tolerance for other faiths.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Cheers erupted inside and outside the Zayed Sports City Stadium as Francis arrived and looped through the crowd in his open-sided popemobile, as chants of “Viva il Papa” and “We love you’’ echoed from the crowd.
Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti later said about 180,000 people attended the Mass, including 135,000 tickets given out for stadium seats and the throngs who crowded around it to catch a glimpse of the pope.
Organizers said faithful from 100 countries would attend, as well as 4,000 Muslims from the UAE.
“We have to say it is really a big event for us which we never expected,” said Sumitha Pinto, an Indian who has lived in the UAE for nearly 20 years and attended the Mass with her husband and four sons.
In his homily, delivered in Italian and translated into Arabic with English subtitles on giant screens, Francis made a direct reference to the sufferings that many of the region’s migrant workers endure in their work.
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