Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Bahrain with thousands of local Catholics, as well as Catholics from throughout the region. Some 30,000 people crowded into Bahrain’s National Stadium for the Mass on Saturday.
One of the sons of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and several government ministers attended the Mass.
“This very land is a living image of coexistence in diversity, and indeed an image of our world, increasingly marked by the constant migration of peoples and by a pluralism of ideas, customs and traditions,” the pope said during the Mass, in praise of the relative religious freedom in Bahrain.
Reuters reported that hundreds of Catholic foreign workers from Saudi Arabia were bused into Bahrain for the Mass. Christians cannot worship openly in the Saudi kingdom.
People representing 111 nationalities attended the Mass, the Bahraini government told Reuters. Prayers during the Mass were read in a myriad of languages, including Tagalog, Swahili, Malayalam, Tamil and Konkani.