Pope Francis holds historic mass for Catholics in first papal visit to Gulf

Pope Francis held a historic public mass for an estimated 170,000 Catholics at an Abu Dhabi stadium on Tuesday on the first ever papal visit to the Gulf region.

The pope waved at an enthusiastic crowd carrying Vatican flags and banners as he drove into Zayed Sports City Stadium, where an altar with a large cross was set up for the unprecedented open-air service in a country where worship is normally allowed only inside churches.

epa07344663 Pope Francis (C) arrives to lead a Holy mass in Zayed Sport City Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates from 03 to 05 February. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

epa07344550 Pope Francis (R) arrives to lead a Holy mass in Zayed Sport City Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates from 03 to 05 February. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

epa07344594 Faithful wait for Pope Francis to arrive to lead a Holy mass in Zayed Sport City Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates from 03 to 05 February. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

epa07344598 Pope Francis (L) arrives to lead a Holy mass in Zayed Sport City Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates from 03 to 05 February. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

epa07344597 Pope Francis arrives to lead a Holy mass in Zayed Sport City Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is visiting the United Arab Emirates from 03 to 05 February. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

epa07344649 His Holiness Pope Francis (C), head of Catholic Church, leads the papal mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 05 February 2019. Pope Francis is on three-day visit to the UAE, making him the first pontiff to visit an Arab Gulf state. EPA-EFE/ALI HAIDER

The UAE borders Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, but unlike its larger neighbour, which outlaws all non-Muslim places of worship, Abu Dhabi allows Christians among its large migrant workforce to practise their faith.

Meanwhile, in a profound statement to the broader Islamic world, the pope was warmly greeted upon his arrival by the Grand Sheikh of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, the oldest and most serious institution of Islamic learning in the entire Arab world.

Astonishingly, one of Saudi Arabia’s most important daily newspapers included on its front page, above-the-fold, an article entitled, “Saudi Arabia may feature in future Papal Visit.” That same Saudi newspaper also tweeted, “#PopeFrancis’s unprecedented three-day visit to the UAE will not only mark the first official papal trip … but also carries hopes with it of a new era of religious tolerance in the Gulf.”

Nearly every Arabic language paper in the entire region is featuring the visit on its front page.

The significance: All of these efforts have an obvious intention – they are meant to signal a new era in the Arab world, for a new generation that is tired of the bastardising of their religion by extremists.

The prime minister and vice president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, put it more elegantly: “We have learned from hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of refugees in our region that sectarian, ideological, cultural and religious bigotry only fuel the fires of rage. We cannot and will not allow this in our country. We need to study, teach and practice tolerance and instill it in our children, both through education and our own example.”