ABU DHABI: Pope Francis met with Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the imam of Al-Azhar, and Emirati leaders on Monday on the first full day of his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates.
In a trip laden with interfaith symbolism and messages of religious tolerance, the Pope toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi where he met the Muslim Council of Elders.
Pope Francis then traveled to the Founder’s Memorial – a tribute to the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, where he gave a speech.
In his speech, the pontiff said that “We must always look for harmony between religions” and that “We are here to promote peace. We are here to be instruments of peace.”
Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar mosque and university, called on Muslims in the Middle East to “embrace” local Christian communities.
He addressed Muslims saying: “Continue to embrace your brothers the Christian citizens everywhere, for they are our partners in our nation,” he said during a televised speech from the ceremony in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi, also attended by Pope Francis.
Then he addressed Christians saying: “You are part of this nation. You are citizens, you are not a minority.. You are citizens with full rights and responsibilities.”
Sheikh Tayeb also called on Muslims in the west to integrate in their host nations and respect local laws during the speech.
Pope Francis and Sheikh Tayeb signed the Human Fraternity Document during the ceremony, and they were presented with the inaugural Human Fraternity Award for their efforts to spread international peace.
Earlier, Pope Francis arrived at Abu Dhabi’s presidential palace, where he was welcomed with a lavish military parade. Officers fired 21 shots in the air, while jets flew overhead leaving white and yellow trails – the colours of the Vatican City flag.
Pope Francis met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Sheikh Mohammed said on Monday that UAE rulers were “delighted” to meet the pontiff “in our homeland of tolerance.”
“We discussed enhancing cooperation, consolidating dialogue, tolerance, human coexistence and important initiatives to achieve peace, stability and development for peoples and societies,” he tweeted.
Pope Francis, who touched down in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night, said he came “as a brother, in order to write a page of dialogue together, and to travel paths of peace together”.
The pontiff offered the crown prince a framed medallion of the meeting between St. Francis Assisi – the pope’s namesake – and the Sultan of Egypt Malek al-Kamel, in 1219.
Sheikh Mohammed, in turn, offered a deed for the plot of land on which the first church in the UAE was built.
*With AFP
