Pope Francis gestures towards worshippers at the Vatican. (Credit: AFP file)
Pope Francis is scheduled to travel to Bahrain from Nov. 3 to 6, 2022, according to Vatican News.
A statement released by the Director of the Holy See Press Office on Wednesday said the Pope had accepted the invitation of the country's civil and ecclesial authorities and that during his Apostolic Journey he will visit the cities of Manama and Awali “on the occasion of the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.”
The program and further details of the Journey will be published at a later date, writes Vatican News.
Awali's tent-shaped Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia opened to worshippers in December last year and is set to be one of the focal points of Pope Francis's visit. The cathedral can seat at least 2,300 people and was built on land donated by Hamad in 2013 to the local Catholic community, which numbers about 80,000 people. It is about 20 kilometers south of the capital, Manama.
Pope Francis will be the first Pope to visit Bahrain. This will be the second visit by the head of the church to the Arabian Gulf after Pope Francis's visit to the UAE in 2019. Pope Francis had previously met in the Vatican, the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on 19 May 2014.