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Catholic World News News Feature

Bahrain Leader Invites Pope to Visit November 22, 1999

VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II met with the Emir of Bahrain, Sheikh Hamad bin Essa al-Khalifa, at the Vatican on November 22.

After the meeting, the Vatican announced that the Arabian leader had indicated an interest in formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and had issued an invitation for the Holy Father to visit Bahrain. The Pope indicated that he would be interested in making such a visit, if circumstances made it possible.

The Emir told reporters that his conversation with the Pontiff had been friendly and open, and remarked that their meeting was "evidence of the profound sense for religious tolerance and fraternal coexistence among religions through history." He said that Bahrain has always sought peaceful accord between Christians and Muslims, without racial or religious discrimination."

Bahrain is a small Muslim state in the Persian Gulf, with a population of 600,000. There are only about 30,000 Catholics in the country-- most of them immigrant workers, principally from the Philippines. They are served by one parish, under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the apostolic vicariate for Arabia.