MANAMA, Nov 2 (Reuters) – When Pope Francis visits Bahrain this week, it will likely be a dream come true for a lot of Christians within the Gulf Arab nation, however particularly for Najla Uchi, whose father helped construct the primary Roman Catholic church within the island state.
Lighting a candle at her dwelling altar lined with spiritual icons, 78-year-old Najla Uchi mentioned she had been saying a each day prayer for Pope Francis, who is because of arrive on Thursday.
“Many individuals did not even dream that they might see the pope right here,” she instructed Reuters. “Once I go to church, they do not consider it, they’re all getting excited.”
Uchi’s father Salman was the primary contractor for the Sacred Coronary heart Church, constructed on a plot of land gifted by the ruling emir. Its bells first rang on Christmas eve 1939, in response to its web site.
Her father got here to Bahrain from Iraq and was later granted Bahraini citizenship. Uchi was born in Bahrain and is a citizen.
Bahrain is about 70% Muslim and, in contrast to Saudi Arabia, permits the small Christian group – made up principally of overseas employees – to observe their religion publicly within the two church buildings there.
Within the Sacred Coronary heart Church yard, individuals pose for photos in entrance of posters of Pope Francis.
“I’m completely satisfied to be there (church) – not solely due to my father, all the pieces is fantastic there…we’re all like one household,” Uchi mentioned.
Throughout his four-day go to, the pontiff will attend the ‘Bahrain Discussion board for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence’, and is predicted to carry mass.
In 2019, Pope Francis visited Abu Dhabi within the United Arab Emirates, the primary pontiff to go to the Arabian peninsula and say a Mass there.
Reporting by Hamad Mohammed;
Enhancing by Bernadette Baum
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