Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin: Bahrain's multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious reality is a model for the East and West

Manama, Oct. 31 (BNA): Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin expressed his gratitude to His Majesty King Ḥamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for extending an invitation to His Holiness Pope Francis to visit the Kingdom of Bahrain on November 3-6. In an interview with L'Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio-Vatican News, he said that the visit of His Holiness the Pope to the Kingdom of Bahrain is a sign of unity and dialogue at an important historical moment. "I think the message coming out of this Forum and the Holy Father's participation is quite clear. It is a sign of unity at a particularly delicate, complex, moment in our history. It is an invitation to dialogue, an invitation to encounter between East and West, in a reality, such as that of Bahrain, which is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious reality; hence the ability to live together, the ability to collaborate even in a composite reality such as that which characterizes that country", he said. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin praised Bahrain's respect for the Christian community in it, noting that His Holiness the Pope will meet with this community. He pointed out that the Christian community makes up about ten per cent of that population and there are between 80 and 100 thousand Catholics. He noted that the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which was consecrated a year ago, Christian community makes up about ten per cent of that population and there are between 80 and 100 thousand Catholics "The Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, which was consecrated a year ago, is also an important a sign of that respect and attention, which I mentioned earlier, on the part of the country's authorities towards the Christian community. So it is a fine symbol, as well as a concrete reality", he said, hailing diplomatic relations that began between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Holy See in 2000. "The red thread that connects all the trips that the Pope has made is simply to say that between God and hatred, between religion and violence, there is an absolute incompatibility, there is an impossibility of any contact and any conciliation, because whoever accepts hatred and violence distorts the very nature of religion", he said.