THE Royal Court has announced that Pope Francis will pay an historic four-day official visit to Bahrain at the invitation of His Majesty King Hamad.
He is set to become the first-ever head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit the kingdom.
The 85-year-old Pontiff will be in Bahrain from November 3 to 6, according to a statement released by the Vatican yesterday.
He will visit Manama to attend the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence to be held under the patronage of His Majesty.
“The Royal Court looks forward to welcoming His Holiness the Pope to the Kingdom of Bahrain, acknowledging his sincere efforts to promote a culture of dialogue and peaceful coexistence,” said a statement by the Royal Court yesterday.
The visit comes after His Majesty visited the Pope in 2014. The King had also met the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the former Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.
According to a Holy See Press Office statement at the time, cordial discussions between the King and the Pope covered various themes of common interest ‘with particular reference to the commitment towards peace and stability in the Middle East, as well as the promotion of dialogue and peaceful coexistence among all members of society’.
This will be the second visit by the head of the Catholic Church to the Arabian Gulf after Pope Francis visited the UAE in 2019, which attracted more than 150,000 people to Abu Dhabi for Mass.
Awali’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which opened to worshippers in December last year, is set to be one of the focal points of the Pope’s visit. The cathedral can seat more than 2,000 people and was built on land donated by the King in 2013.
Last year, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle conveyed to the King a written message from the Pontiff.
In the letter, Pope Francis expressed his thanks and appreciation to the King for the opening of the cathedral in Bahrain, praising His Majesty’s interest in strengthening relations among different religions and cultures.
On February 3, 2020, Pope Francis also received His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, at the Vatican.
The Royal Court also announced that, at the invitation of His Majesty, Grand Imam of Al Azhar Shaikh Dr Ahmad Al Tayyeb will visit Bahrain on November 3 for the forum.
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