Pope Francis thrills small Gulf Catholic community with big Mass in Bahrain

News Network
November 5, 2022

pope.jpg

Pope Francis said Mass for thousands of Catholics in Bahrain on Saturday, thrilling members of the small foreign Catholic community from around the Gulf and urging them to show kindness to their hosts, even if they feel sometimes badly treated.

The crowd of about 30,000 people that filled Bahrain's National Stadium was the second-largest gathering for a papal Mass on the Arabian Peninsula, following one that drew more than 100,000 in the United Arab Emirates in 2019.

"This is a miracle," said Mary Grace Fortes, 36, a Filipino who works at the reception of a hotel in Bahrain. "So important for us."

Like many Filipino women who work outside their country, Fortes is married and sends money back home to help support her family, including her husband and 16-year-old son.

Hundreds of Catholic foreign workers were bussed in over the 25-km (16 mile) King Fahd Causeway that links Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, where there are no churches and where Catholics cannot worship openly.

"The Bahrainis arranged everything perfectly for us," said Jos Chazoor, 53, who is from Kerala in India and works as a manager for a medical equipment company in Saudi Arabia.

Chazoor's 75-year-old mother was too overcome with emotion to respond to a reporter's questions just before the pope arrived in the packed stadium to an enthusiastic welcome by faithful waving yellow-and-white Vatican flags.

"She is too thrilled to talk," said Chazoor, who drives with his mother over the causeway from Saudi Arabia regularly to attend Mass in one of Bahrain's two churches, which provide pastoral care for the some 160,000 Catholics in Bahrain.

In his homily, Francis appeared to praise Bahrain's relatively open policy towards non-Muslims.

"This very land is a living image of coexistence in diversity, and indeed an image of our world, increasingly marked by the constant migration of peoples and by a pluralism of ideas, customs and traditions," he said.

Foreign workers, many of them from Asia, provide the backbone of Gulf economies, working in sectors such as construction, hospitality, transport and the oil and gas sector.

The International Labour Organisation says the Gulf's migrant workers have long faced problems including exploitation by recruitment agencies and employers, poor work conditions, limited access to justice and limited or no freedom of association.

Francis urged his listeners to be kind even to those native people in the Gulf area who do not treat them well, saying this was key to the Gospel message of loving your enemies.

He said they should always be "persevering in good even when evil is done to us, breaking the spiral of vengeance, disarming violence, demilitarizing the heart".

As Francis was driven on a open popemobile through the crowd on the stadium's pitch just before the start of the Mass, a speaker on the altar platform shouted "God bless the pope, God bless the royal family."

A Bahrain government spokesperson said 111 nationalities attended the Mass in the island state, where foreigners comprise about half of Bahrain's population of roughly 1.5 million.

The prayers of the faithful during the Mass were read in languages spoken by foreign workers including Tagalog, Swahili, Malayalam, Tamil and Konkani.

The Mass was attended by one of the sons of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and several government ministers. 
 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 7,2023

palestine.jpg

Israel’s so-called national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has ordered the security forces to press ahead with the demolition of Palestinian homes that have purportedly been built "without permits" in occupied East al-Quds during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the Monday announcement comes despite the fact that the occupying regime has not carried out home demolitions during Ramadan in the past years in order to avoid tensions with Palestinians and their subsequent retaliatory operations.

Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, is set to start later this month.

Meanwhile, the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said Israeli police warned Ben-Gvir that the fasting month of Ramadan could be extremely dangerous to implement the measure, as Palestinians are already stretched to the limit amid rising tensions across the occupied West Bank.

The demolition of Palestinian homes across the occupied territories has increased since the extremely far-right Israeli administration led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office.

Palestinians regard ministers of the new cabinet, especially far-right Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, as racist and fascist for publicly advocating the expulsion of Palestinians and the demolition of their homes, supporting Israeli extremist groups repeatedly attacking Palestinians, and stirring incitement to racism against Arabs and non-Jews.

Last week, Smotrich caused an uproar when he said the Palestinian town of Huwwara, south of Nablus, should be “wiped out.”

“I think the village of Huwwara needs to be wiped out. I think Israel should do it,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli media outlets on March 1.

Smotrich’s remarks were met with condemnations from the European Union and many countries around the world as incitement of violence and terrorism.

The office of the European Union Representative in al-Quds condemned the remarks as “unacceptable,” saying, “They incite to indiscriminate violence in a situation which is already extremely tense.”

Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds. The regime alleges that the homes were built without a permit. However, the Israeli regime rarely, if ever, approves such permits for Palestinians. The Israeli forces also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the costs of the demolition.

Israel has already occupied thousands of square kilometers of Palestinian agricultural land to construct and expand new illegal settler units in various areas in the West Bank.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 14,2023

misriya.jpg

Mangaluru, Mar 14: A teenage girl student of a pre university college at Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada district reportedly died of high fever, suspected to be dengue. 

The deceased has been identified as Misriya (17), the second daughter of Mayyaddi and Ramlath couple from Jyotinagar area in Moodbidri. She was a science stream student of first PUC at a private college. 

She was suffering from high fever since some days and died on Sunday late night. It is learnt that the girl was suffering from high fever for past few days. According to sources, she breathed her last as her white blood cells dropped drastically. 

It is suspected that this is a case of dengue. However, only the test report will confirm the exact cause of the death.  

Mayyaddi, who works in a gulf country, had come down to native place after knowing that his daughter was suffering from fever.

Taluk health officer Dr Sujay Bhandary said, “If dengue and malaria cases are admitted to government hospitals, we get immediate information. However, from private hospitals, only when the report is sent to Malaria centre we come to know of the case and take suitable survey. Misriya’s death case is yet to be reported to the Malaria centre.

“So far this year, no death is reported in Moodbidri taluk due to dengue. If this is confirmed, then it will be the first case. We will investigate the case and take suitable action immediately,” he said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 13,2023

KSE.jpg

Mangaluru, Mar 13: Senior BJP leader and former minister KS Eshwarappa once again made a provocative remarks on using loudspeakers for Azaan which is likely to once again stoke a debate on it.

Eshwarappa, who was addressing a gathering during BJP’s Vijay Sankalp Yatra held in Mangaluru’s Kavoor on Sunday, paused his speech on hearing azaan from a nearby mosque for a second but was quick in taking objection to the sound.

"In temples, girls and women offer prayers and bhajans. We are religious, but we don't use loudspeakers. If you have to call for prayers using loudspeakers, it means Allah is deaf," he said.

He further said Azaan gives him a headache and added that the Supreme Court's judgment is due, and this issue will come to an end one day.

The use of loudspeakers for Azaan has been a hot topic with many people complaining of disturbance. The Supreme Court had in July 2005 banned the use of loudspeakers between 10 pm to 6 am, except in the cases of public emergencies, citing health impacts of noise pollution.

Later, in October 2005, the court said loudspeakers could be permitted to be used till midnight on festive occasions for 15 days a year.

In May 2020, lyricist Javed Akhtar had asked Azaan on loudspeakers should be stopped as it causes discomfort to others. He also had stated that for 50 years Azaan on loudspeakers was Haraam in India for almost 50 years. It became Halaal thereafter, he added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.