In packed churches and secret masses, Papal visit brings Gulf Catholics hope…
They hope the first ever trip by a pope to the Arabian Peninsula will foster greater acceptance for its two million expatriate Catholics, many from India and the Philippines.
http://archive.today/2019.02.01-080533/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-emirates-worship/in-packed-churches-and-secret-masses-papal-visit-brings-gulf-catholics-hope-idUSKCN1PP2UJ
DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - In Dubai’s overflowing churches and Riyadh’s secretive masses, Catholics across the Gulf are eagerly awaiting Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United Arab Emirates next week. They want better transport to UAE churches and permission to build them at all in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia. The trip comes as the UAE makes a push to show it is a country tolerant of other religions and at a time of social reform elsewhere in the Gulf. The visit would reflect “what the UAE has always been: a cradle of diversity, centered between East and West, connecting people, religions, goods, and cultures,” said a UAE government spokesman, Jaber Al Lamki.
Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan invited the pontiff after meeting him at the Vatican in 2016. Lamki said the visit was “unsurprising” given the number of Catholics in the UAE and it had taken time to plan it. The Vatican says the trip will focus on inter-religious dialogue and peace. “It will help the Gulf and the whole world understand there should be respect for each religion,” said Claudia Rumie, a maths tutor from Colombia. She attends mass near Dubai’s Jebel Ali port in a church on a compound with houses of worship from other faiths and will be among the 120,000 Catholics attending the pope’s mass in a sports stadium in Abu Dhabi. Most UAE citizens are Sunni Muslims, but foreigners, often working in offices, schools, homes and constructions sites, outnumber locals by around nine to one. Around half the Gulf’s Catholics live in the UAE.
Priests, worshippers and two diplomats said that while the UAE is already the most tolerant Gulf country toward faiths other than Islam, there are restrictions. The authorities forbid unsanctioned religious gatherings and non-Muslims must not proselytize, according to the law. Churches do not ring bells and do not display visible cross, according to church building agreements, church officials say. Land for building houses of worship is limited so there are only nine Catholic churches in the UAE. Pews are packed at the weekend, with parishioners spilling outside where mass is sometimes broadcast on screens. Father Reinhold Sahner, the German parish priest of St Francis church in Dubai said some parishioners have long bus journeys to church. “It is good that the pope comes and knows about our realities, he knows also about our difficulties,” Sahner said.
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