Pope Francis began his trip to Bahrain today, the 39th of his pontificate, where, despite his knee problems, he wanted to move to continue his mission of strengthening ties with Islam, one of his great concerns. There, from the Sakhir royal palace, in Awali, he did not want to escape the uncomfortable issues and has raised his voice to demand that the country respect human rights and eliminate the death penalty.
Before the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Pope has not held his tongue and has urged more efforts in the path of religious freedom -it is the only country in the region that also grants citizenship to Christians-, the equality for all and end human rights violations.
These are some of the issues that nine humanitarian organizations had asked him to mention, including Human Rights Watch, which specifically considered that the Pontiff should publicly call on the country's authorities to commute the death sentences of the 26 people who are pending execution, some of them after being tortured. Since 2017, six people have received the death penalty.
The papal visit to the country ruled for centuries by the Al Khalifa dynasty has not been without criticism by activists who denounce the human rights violations suffered by the Shiites, the majority Muslim branch in the country, led by the Sunni minority. In his first speech before the authorities, the Pope underlined that the commitments for full religious freedom must "be constantly put into practice", "so that the same dignity and equal opportunities are concretely recognized for each group and each person”, and “so that there is no discrimination and fundamental human rights are not violated, but promoted”.
On the death penalty, Francisco has defended that the "right to life" must always be guaranteed, "also in relation to those who are punished, whose existence cannot be eliminated". Before leaving, he had received a letter from the relatives of those sentenced to death so that he would be aware of the situation they are going through.
The Jesuit pope also wanted to refer specifically to the situation of immigrants in the country, who make up about half of the resident population of the Kingdom, something that in his opinion "has allowed considerable productive development" in Bahrain, although he has not forgotten ask that workers have decent conditions. “It cannot be forgotten that in current times work is still very scarce, and there is too much dehumanizing work,” he stressed. This not only carries serious risks of social instability, but also represents an attack on human dignity and the conditions of workers, emphasizing that they must be worthy.
The head of the Catholic Church will spend four days in Bahrain, being the first pontiff to visit this kingdom with which the Holy See began diplomatic relations in 2000. The purpose of the trip is to participate in the Bahrain Forum for 'Dialogue: East and the West for Human Coexistence', an interreligious agreement very similar to the one that recently took place in Kazakhstan. Saudi Arabia and Iran, two countries very attentive to the Muslim division in Bahrain, are very aware of this visit. He will meet again with Ahmad al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar, the largest Sunni institution, whom he has already seen several times.
He will also take the opportunity to meet some of the 80,000 Christians in the country –out of a population of 1.4 million inhabitants–, most of them Asian immigrants. Some of them will attend a mass at the Bahrain National Stadium on Saturday, while this Friday they will pray for peace at the Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral, built on land given by King Al Khalifa to the Catholic Church.
