Pope Francis said on Sunday (November 6) that he prayed for “suffering peoples of the Middle East,” as he ended his Bahrain visit. The visit was organised to promote dialogue with Islam but was marked by accusations of rights abuses in Gulf state.
In a final address, he told Lebanese congregants he was praying for “your beloved country, so weary and sorely tried, as well as (for) all peoples suffering in the Middle East”.
On the return flight, Francis spoke in an in-air press conference and called on Lebanese policians to “put aside…personal interests” and and come to an agreement on filling a power vacuum in the crisis-hit country, which currently has no president.
“Look at the country and come to an agreement… Let Lebanon regain its greatness,” he urged them.
The 85-year-old Argentinian met both, senior Muslim officials as well as Catholic residents of the Gulf. He held an open-air mass on Saturday for about 30,000 people many of whom were moved to tears by the occasion.
Bahrain, which established formal ties with the Holy See in 2000, has around 80,000 Catholic residents. Most are workers from the Philippines and other Asian countries.
In his final address, the pope also urged congregants to pray “for Ukraine, which is suffering so much”, and for an end to the war.
(With inputs from agencies)
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