BUILDING BRIDGES

On February 3, 2019, Pope Francis began his three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, the first of a Pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula and the wider Gulf region. The visit comes on the invitation of Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and follows on the meeting the Crown Prince held with the Pope at the Vatican in 2016. On the agenda during his time in the UAE, the Pope will have a meeting with members of the Muslim Council of Elders, engage in an interreligious dialogue, and hold a public mass for an estimated 125,000 worshippers.

February 4, 2019

AN HISTORIC CHARTER

The visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was not just a visit, it was history in the making. As the first visit of any Pope to the Arabian Peninsula, it represented a turning point in the gridlock of animosity between Muslims and Christians that extremists have forced upon us in areas like Egypt, Iraq and Syria. His Holiness’ Papal Mass attended by 130,000 people in Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi was not just a Mass, it was a commitment by both Muslims and Christians to repudiate the idea that the relationship between the two religions is a zero-sum game.

February 4, 2019