Vatican, November 9 (BNA) Pope Francis described his historic four-day visit to Bahrain as a visit of dialogue and fraternity in a world suffering from division and conflict.
The Supreme Pontiff, who visited Bahrain on 3 and 6 November at the invitation of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, consecrated his Christian teaching at the general weekly Wednesday meeting of his Apostolic Journey to Bahrain on 3 and 6 November.
The Bahrain trip was his thirty-ninth apostolic visit abroad, the second to the region, and the fifty-eighth country he had visited since the beginning of his pontificate.
Addressing the crowds in Saint Peter’s Square and those watching from afar, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for the fruits of the peace-producing visit, especially in this world torn by conflict and war.
Pope Francis, who participated in the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue, said that he “gathered religious leaders in the service of peace.”
“It is spontaneous to ask why the Pope would like to visit this small country with a large Muslim majority?” asked the Pope, answering: I would like to answer with three words: dialogue, meeting, and journey.
He said that “dialogue is in fact the ‘oxygen of peace’ that opens minds and hearts to confront and break down the walls of violence and division.”
The pope said dialogue “is the oxygen of peace” even in home life, and especially within families.
He said that religious and civic leaders, and all people of good will, face challenges in a world shaken by war, and should look beyond narrow interests and the pursuit of unity and peace.
He stressed that wars and conflicts “will never be resolved by the infantile logic of artillery, but only by the gentle force of dialogue.”
“War destroys humanity,” he said. “It destroys everything.”
Pope Francis said his visit to Bahrain, the Muslim-majority country, was another step in the journey of dialogue, encounter and fraternal cooperation between Christians and Muslims, after several other trips on similar topics, such as the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and Kazakhstan. In September, Vatican News reports.
The Pope said that there can be no dialogue without the second word, “meeting.”
Without it, he warned, “the dialogue remains empty” and “remains at the level of the idea, not the reality.”
He recalled his meetings with the Imam of Al-Azhar and the youth of the Sacred Heart School. He praised the youth, who said, “He gave us a great example. Christians and Muslims study together.”
“Young men, boys and girls, children, need to get to know each other so that fraternal confrontation prevents ideological divisions,” he said.
Finally, the Pope focused on the third word of “journey.”
The Pope’s first visit to Bahrain represents a new step in the journey between Christian and Muslim believers.
He said it was “not to confuse things or weaken the faith, but to establish brotherly alliances in the name of our father Abraham, who was a pilgrim on earth under the merciful gaze of one God from heaven, the God of peace.”
He said that was why the motto of the trip was: “Peace on Earth for people of good will.”
The Pope also expressed his happiness at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy of the Catholic community in Bahrain and the Greater Gulf region, which witnessed the participation of about 30 thousand people, registered from more than 100 countries, and he recalled with joy their joining of Christian leaders in the choir prayer for peace. .