Pope Francis landed in Bahrain on Thursday for a four-day visit, his first to the Gulf state and only the second by a pope to travel to the Arabian Peninsula. Following his arrival, he gave a speech at the Sakhir royal palace in which he urged an end to discrimination and the infringement of human rights, stating it is crucial that ‘basic human rights are not infringed but encouraged’.
The head of the nation’s monarchy, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, welcomed the Pope during his visit. Shia Muslim opposition and other rights organisations have charged and criticised Bahrain, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, of supervising violations of human rights. Authorities, however, have strenuously refuted these allegations.
In his speech, the 85-year-old Pope also made reference to Bahrain’s constitution and emphasised the need to put commitments into action in order to ensure that religious freedom is fully realised and ‘not limited to freedom of worship,’ that all people enjoy equal rights and opportunities, which must be ‘concretely recognised for each group,’ and that there is no discrimination of any kind.
The Pope’s trip to strengthen connections with the Islamic world comes after his historic trip to Abu Dhabi in 2019, where he signed a treaty promoting the Catholic-Muslim fraternity with a prominent Sunni cleric, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb. He will stay in Bahrain from November 3 to November 6 during which he will address the ‘Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence’ and meet with the Muslim Council of Elders.
In addition, the Pope will pay visits to Catholic churches around the nation, including the first one in the Gulf to open its doors in 1939. He may also engage with Bahrain’s sizeable Catholic population, which numbers at least 160,000 people in a nation of 1.5 million people. Numerous pilgrims are expected to travel to Bahrain on Saturday to witness the pope’s large Mass at the national stadium, according to reports.
As the latter organised the pro-democracy movement in 2011 and the widespread rallies calling for reform, this visit has also highlighted the ongoing hostilities between the Shia community and the Sunni-led government. With harsh repression and assistance from the Saudi Arabian and UAE neighbours, the monarchy is said to have put an end to the unrest.
Following mass trials, the government has since taken thousands of protesters, activists, and even journalists into custody and prison. Francis’ statements also came in response to requests for him to speak out against persecution and the death penalty from human rights organisations and the families of Shia activists who are now in prison for their activism.
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