Vatican City
Reuters
Pope Francis will visit predominantly Muslim Bahrain between 3rd and 6th November to attend an international conference, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.
The Vatican said the Pope would visit the Gulf island country off the Arabian peninsula to take part in the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.
Pope Francis meets with Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa during a private audience at the Vatican, on 3rd February, 2020. PICTURE: Vincenzo Pinto/Pool via Reuters/File photo.
In 2019, Francis visited Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the first pontiff to visit the Arabian peninsula and say a Mass there.
Bahrain is about 70 per cent Muslim and, unlike Saudi Arabia, allows the small Christian community – made up mostly of foreign workers – to practice their faith publicly in the two churches there.
Vatican officials first announced the trip to Bahrain on the flight back from the pope’s trip to Kazakhstan earlier this month but did not give the dates.
Wednesday’s announcement gave no details of the program.
