no papal comments about the interfaith wars between Sunni and Shia, and how that contributes to the Saudi Arabia treatment of Yemen?--not to mention the Muslim treatment of women.
Francis speaks at such a level of generality and abstraction that he often seems to be advocating a "one size fits all" type of Christianity that is at odds with the particularity and specificity of the problems his church faces. If I go to Emergency Room of a hospital because I have been raped, I don't expect to get a sermon on the 10 commandments--I expect to be treated for my wounds with as much medical specificity as the doctors can muster. Maybe Francis needs to take a year off to work in Triage.
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Hopefully with the Pope's visit to Abu Dubai, the Catholics will now be able to practice their faith more openly. In the predominantly Muslim country, they are certainly not a threat to their Muslim faith. Let the Catholics build a few Churches so they can pray in houses of worship. This certainly would be a nice tribute to these religious people who take their Catholicism seriously.
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@WPLMMT yeah but i would imagine that UAE leaders wouldnt really want to get carried away and allow catholics to expand in the region...
the treatment of workers is not good in most of ME. Qatar are good and improving, not the rest especially Saudi and UAE. To call these people migrants is not correct. They can be expelled at any time. And are. the pope is duped.
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Amen Papa, Amen.
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As an American expat living in Abu Dhabi for 7 years, I find it interesting to read reports about the UAE. Most news articles seem to have an underlying skepticism about what it is like to live in the UAE. Is it so difficult to believe that we enjoy living here and that we are free to worship our religions? It is not the opulent life, the mythical "large salaries", or the Bentleys...those exist in LA and other parts of the world as well, but we have is an amazing melting pot of cultures that is difficult to find. Ask most expats or migrant workers, and we will all agree, life is good here in the UAE. It is safe and it is a wonderful place to raise to raise our third culture kids. We have a soft spot in our hearts for the UAE because there is a harmony here that is difficult to replicate. And by the way, Santa and the Easter Bunny are VIPs in the UAE.
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@Gina Dillon Well said. I'm a third culture kid who grew up in Dubai. I now live in California and still think of Dubai as home and reminisce about the good times there. It was a wonderful place to grow up in for the exact same reasons you mention.
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@bobnoir
I recommend you read Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s biography. His service to the poor, the imprisoned and the migrant, and his humble lifestyle are real and legendary. He has chosen to live in a modest apartment in the Vatican and not in the Pope’s residence; he personally brought muslim immigrants to live with him at the Vatican. He avoids superfluos unnecessary luxuries when traveling. For the cynics, all this translates as manipulative publicity stunts. For others, catholics or not, he deserves the respect he has earned by living a life of service and example.
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Re: "...For the cynics, all this translates as manipulative publicity stunts. For others, catholics or not, he deserves the respect he has earned by living a life of service and example..." {@Fernando Güereña}
As long as, (clerical...), pederasts have nothing to worry, 'bout, career wise...this / any pope's alleged 'good words--works' will amount to 'nothing, accomplished'!
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The Pope left the opulence of the Vatican to give a speech about immigration. How quaint.
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Despite the astounding growth in global Christianity over the past half century, the one area of the world where it has been embattled is, paradoxically, it's birthplace: the Middle East.
Obviously there are numerous causes for the shrinking numbers of Christians in the ME. One of those should be forthrightly faced: and that is US foreign policy and intervention in the region, which has often had the indirect result of driving out otherwise peacefully co-existing Christian communities.
But there is a success story, and that is the guest workers in the Emirates, as described so well in this article. Many are Christian--many from the Philippines are Roman Catholic--and the UAE permits their faith.
The UAE is to be commended for those freedoms they do extend, and Francis is in the right place at the right time to light a small candle of freedom.
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