Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Inside the VaticanFebruary 07, 2019
Pope Francis attends a welcoming ceremony with Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, and Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of United Arab Emirates, at the entrance to the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 4, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

This week, Pope Francis visited Abu Dhabi to meet with religious leaders at the Global Inter-Religious Meeting on Human Fraternity, a conference aimed at combating religious extremism.

Where the pope chooses to visit will always be significant. But what makes this trip different from, say, his trip to Panama that we talked about in the last episode of “Inside the Vatican,” is that this is the first time a pope has visited the Arabian Peninsula. And by all accounts, it seems to have been a success.

Gerry told me this week, “I think it’s difficult to convey the long-term consequences that could emerge from this visit.”

On the show, we’ll get into some of the potential consequences of the pope’s work to facilitate interfaith dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, as well as his call for full citizenship protections for the United Arab Emirates’ eight million Christian migrant workers. We’ll also examine whether the pope’s more critical approach to the U.A.E.’s involvement in Yemen’s brutal civil war signifies a shift in his general diplomatic strategy.

Links:

Video:

 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
islam islam
6 years 5 months ago

I read your blog and
I’m very impressed. It’s very useful I hope I will see this type
of post again in your blog
Thanks
for your nice post .

Dr.Cajetan Coelho
6 years 5 months ago

Muslims - they are nice men and women. They need to be respected and taken as fellow-pilgrims on the same journey.

William Murphy
6 years 5 months ago

I think we can guess how successful this trip will be in the long term by looking at the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb is a long time associate of Pope Francis and the co-signatory of Pope Francis on this "Document on Human Fraternity". Seeing that the very learned Imam (PhD from Paris) supports the execution of unrepentant apostates, including any converts to Catholicism, I think we can safely regard this document as an exercise in taqiyya by the Muslim side and an exercise in self-deception by the Catholics.

https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2016/06/22/egypts-top-moderate-cleric-apostasy-a-crime-punishable-by-death/

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-02/pope-francis-uae-declaration-with-al-azhar-grand-imam.html

The latest from america

On Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV addressed a crowd of digital missionaries and Catholic influencers about the responsibilities and challenges of their ministry.
“We should never get used to violence or lose our respect for the sacredness of human life,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, following a deadly mass shooting that claimed four lives, including that of a New York City police officer.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during a rally at Zocalo Square in Mexico City on March 9. (OSV News photo/Toya Sarno Jordan, Reuters)
Fears of state espionage are surfacing again for Centro Prodh and other human rights groups in Mexico after legislators overhauled a suite of laws in security, military, telecommunications and intelligence matters.
David AgrenJuly 28, 2025
We need to pray for the person whose real identity and full story we do not know. Because that is everyone.
Simcha FisherJuly 28, 2025