Why Pope Francis is going to Bahrain

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👉🏻 Sign up here: https://mailchi.mp/ewtn/vatican THREE REASONS WHY POPE FRANCIS IS TRAVELLING TO THE ISLAMIC KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN Located on a small group of islands off the Western coast of the Persian Gulf, Bahrain is home to an estimated one-and-a-half-million people, seventeen percent of whom are foreigners. A small Islamic kingdom, its capital city is Manama and its official language is Arabic. According to the 2001 census, 80% of the population are Muslim. Bahrain’s native Christian community dates back to the 12th century. While the majority of the Christian population today is made up of Western ex-patriots, the native Christians, though small in number, are still an active community. Making up only ten percent of the largely Islamic population, Catholics are served by three priests and seven Comboni sisters. The Sacred Heart Church in the nation’s capital of Manama has sponsored a Catholic school in the small kingdom with a student body of 1,600 children. To understand the reasons for the papal journey to the Kingdom of Bahrain in November, we must first understand three intertwined stories that set the stage for this trip: that of a Marian devotion, a missionary bishop, and a Muslim country open to Christians. The Marian devotion Approved in 1948, the title of Our Lady of Arabia fulfills the prophecy of the Magnificat «From this day all generations will call me blessed». Following the approval of the title, a small chapel in Ahmadi, Kuwait was dedicated to Our Lady of Arabia. In 1957, Pius XII issued a decree, proclaiming Our Lady of Arabia the principal patron saint of the territory and the Apostolic Vicariate of Kuwait. A missionary bishop Bishop Camillo Ballin spent 50 years on the Arabian peninsula. Toward the end of his life, he started planning a cathedral name after Our Lady of Arabia. An ark-shaped building, it is located in the town of Awali, Bahrain, and seats twenty-three-thousand people. It is one of the only Catholic Cathedrals on the Arabian peninsula. Bishop Ballin died in 2020, a shortly before the completion of his project. On his journey to Bahrain, Pope Francis will visit the Cathedral, paying homage to the late bishop. A Muslim country open to Christians. In 2018, Bishop Ballin stressed the importance of “great discretion and patience” with interfaith dialogue in Islamic countries. “Muslims do not even know the structure of the Church,” he told journalists. “It is important to explain it to [them and] it is essential to create a climate of friendship." He went on to challenge the common Western perception that the Arabian peninsula is home only to M uslims. In actual fact, it is home to millions of Catholics. Now, with the completion and inauguration of the cathedral that the Bishop envisioned, Ballin’s legacy could be celebrated by Pope Francis, the first Pontiff to travel to the Islamic Kingdom of Bahrain.