For the first Time ever that a Pope has visited the Arabian Peninsula. For Francis, the United Arab Emirates is a place of diversity of cultures. But above all, they are a access to the heart of Islam.
For the first time, a Catholic Church leader travels on the Arabian Peninsula. Officially, the three-day visit of Pope Francis is a religious concern. But both sides – the leadership of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Catholic Bishop on the spot – put on a further message for the whole Region.
“In many cases, it is, of course, that of the world Church of the impression, in Arabia, there were no Christians,” says Paul Hinder of the German wave. The 76-Year-old Catholic Bishop for southern Arabia. In one of the world’s largest pastoral districts of the Catholic Church, the Swiss-born care with a few dozen priests and one Million Catholics.
The Catholic Bishop’s Church in Abu Dhabi
Sometimes he celebrates eight, ten, or more worship services on a weekend. And always, the churches are full. “A vibrant immigrant Church,” he says. Either “Expats”, and officially sent diplomats, or business representatives, or workers, “Faith is important”. They come from India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. And Hinder emphasises explicitly that the freedom of religious practice, especially the worship services, he could not complain.
“Meeting of cultures”
“Today, there are more than 70 churches, temples and even a synagogue in the Emirates, says the UAE’s Ambassador to Berlin, Ali Abdulla Al Ahmed, the DW. “Religöser pluralism is widely used in our country, more than in the fifties or sixties.” This diversity must be practiced.
The UAE’s Ambassador to Berlin, Ali Abdulla Al Ahmed
And – very unusually – Pope Francis said before the trip, in a Video address to the topic. He was looking forward to visiting a country, “life is a model for the Fraternity between people and the encounter between different civilizations and cultures want to be in the many find a safe and secure workplace, free of work and able to live and respect diversity”.
Why is the aspect of this fraternity is the Pope so important, shows a view of the Region. In the West, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia borders in the North, it is two hours by fast boat to the coast of Iran. After Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, it is not far. There are countries in which Christians fear for their lives, and religious pluralism is unthinkable.
The Emirates have more than nine million residents. Only one in nine is also a UAE citizen. The country is a Patriarchal hereditary monarchy, was Oil-rich. To his Boom a conscious emphasis on social development. But for the prosperity of the UAE, guest workers need. In contrast to many other States, you care for these residents in the long term. But the UAE is not a model country: The, among other things, dealing with homosexuality, the death penalty shows.
Visit to Rome
Official diplomatic relations since 1971, the independent Emirate and the Vatican since 2007 to entertain. However, the mutual contacts are far older. The then ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed’s bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and visited in 1953 during an official visit by European countries, the Vatican. Even Pope John Paul II (1978-2005), who visited 127 countries, the Arab world is a white spot. Sometimes a takes a return visit just a little longer.
Francis is the first Pope of the island, visited the Arab half
After all, Pope Francis got a promotional visit. In 2016, the crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed in the Vatican and presented the Pope with a collection of photos of archaeological excavations. There were pictures of Sir Bani Yas, a Christian monastery on an offshore island, which existed from the sixth to the eighth century. Archaeological a gem. And the proof of how pluralistic was the Region formerly religious.
The actual reason for the journey is an “inter-religious”, at which the Pope will speak. And before his return flight, he celebrates in the biggest stadium of Abu Dhabi, a trade fair, to be the more than 120,000 people expected. If the Pope, says Ambassador Al-Ahmed, in the mass for the victims of the war in the Yemen pray (in the Emirates are involved), would you respect that: “He is a man of peace. We know that.”
Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the Egyptian Ahmed al-Tayeb, met even more often
Talking of religions
However, the inter-religious encounter will have international attention. Ambassador Al Ahmed is convinced that the visit had great importance on the Emirates: “We send a message of peace and coexistence.”
Pope Francis speaks of a “new page in the history of the relations between the religions”. And he thanked the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, accompanied him at the meetings. Of the Egyptians, is considered the highest religious authority in Sunni Islam. They both confirmed that the Belief in God and does not divide, it brings us closer to each other, he removed us from hostility and aversion”.
Paul Hinder (76) is the Catholic Bishop for the southern part of Arabia
How necessary such a sign of the Dialogue that illustrates Bishop Hinder with his many years of experience in the Region. “I think that it is precisely in situations of conflict, increased cooperation among the religions is absolutely necessary if we don’t want to go to a disaster,” he says of the DW. And warns equally against excessive expectations. There is a need for patience: “patience on the way of mutual learning. And steps a certain degree of cooperation in the field.”
The Bishop emphasized the differences between the manifestations of Islam in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, or Yemen. You should be, “when you talk with an important Imam, not of the Illusion that one has the whole Muslim world”.