About thirty thousand people gathered on Saturday at the Bahrain National Stadium, who participated enthusiastically from the early hours of the morning to attend the Mass presided over by Pope Francis, on the third day of his visit to the Kingdom of the Gulf.
The participants, mostly from Asian countries, distributed the seats and arena of the Bahrain National Stadium, the largest sports venue in the Kingdom, located in the Riffa area.
Families with their children, elders and clerics, who had signed up for weeks, flocked to attend the “for justice and peace” mass, which begins at 8:30 local time (5:30 GMT).
“We have been here since 1 am. We haven’t slept,” said Philomena Abranche, a 46-year-old Indian living in Bahrain who volunteers to organize mass. “We are very excited about the idea of meeting the Pope”, she said.
He added: “All people want to see the Pope, it is a dream. Above all, the Pope represents peace in the world and this is what we need right now”.
Saturday mass is the second stop for Pope Francis to meet Catholic Christians, after a first stop on Friday evening at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Arabs, the largest Catholic church in the Gulf, where he entered amid applause and tears.
On the seats in the stadium’s courtyard and on its grandstand seats, which can seat 25,000 people, organizers placed plastic bags containing a hat bearing the visit’s coat of arms, as well as a prayer book and the papal flag, among other things.
“Hosting Pope Francis is the biggest event of the year,” said Margaret Heida, 63, a Christian from Bahrain.
She added: “People usually go to Italy to see the Pope and they may not be able to. But I saw him yesterday in church and I’ll see him today. I consider myself lucky because yesterday I was able to hold his hand and take his blessing.”
During the mass, the Pope will deliver a speech in Spanish, the fifth since his arrival in Bahrain. The Pope enters the stadium aboard the papal car he uses during his visits abroad. Since his arrival in Bahrain, the 85-year-old Pope has been using a wheelchair and cane to get around, due to chronic knee pain that he recently suffered and that prevents him from moving.
Bahrain, with a population of 1.4 million and a country respectful of freedom of worship, established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 2000. It is home to about eighty thousand Catholic Christians, mainly workers from India and the Philippines.
