{"id":31927,"date":"2019-02-05T15:22:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T15:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31927"},"modified":"2019-02-05T15:22:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T15:22:49","slug":"ecstatic-cheers-as-popes-stadium-show-makes-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31927","title":{"rendered":"Ecstatic cheers as Pope\u2019s stadium show makes history"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-io-article-url=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1447466\/middle-east\" readability=\"115\">\n<p>\nABU DHABI: It was impossible not to be moved as Pope Francis entered Sheikh Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, ripples of excitement among the worshippers building into ecstatic cheers on a warm Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\nThis was history in the making \u2014 the first time the head of the Roman Catholic Church had visited the Gulf, and the first time a pope had led Mass in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd the 180,000-strong congregation made this the largest public Mass ever held in the Gulf.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WCvvuoBoais\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nEarlier, local celebrity Kris Fade, of Virgin Radio in the UAE, addressed the gathering, encouraging people to cheer in the minutes leading up to the pontiff\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n<p>\nFade thanked the UAE rulers for agreeing to the event \u2014 and the crowd\u2019s cheers grew louder.<\/p>\n<p>\nHelicopters hovered in the clear blue sky as the pope\u2019s convoy neared the stadium.<\/p>\n<p>\nWorshippers had been waiting for hours, getting little or no sleep as they traveled from across the country, some in a convoy of hundreds of buses that left Dubai at 11 p.m. the previous night.<\/p>\n<p>\nStadium gates had opened at 5 a.m. to let worshippers enter.<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/694711\/francismiddle-east.gif\" width=\"670\"><\/p>\n<p>\nThere had been a chill in the air the night before, but as the sun rose a feeling of warmth circled the excited congregation.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI came straight here from work last night,\u201d said Chris Hilis, a volunteer for the Catholic Church at the event.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI was doing overtime at work before. I haven\u2019t had any sleep, but it is worth it. I knew this was how it was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nIn the background the choir sang, the 120 members of which had been selected in a series of auditions held after the announcement of the papal visit in December.<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd then, at 10:30 a.m. \u2014 with the helicopters directly overhead \u2014 news arrived that the pope was about to enter the stadium. It was the moment the congregation had been waiting for.<\/p>\n<p>\nFirst, security entered, then Pope Francis appeared. Thousands of elated worshippers inside and around the stadium craned their necks, eager to get a glimpse of the pontiff standing on the back of a white Popemobile.<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/userimages\/694711\/popemobile.gif\" width=\"670\"><\/p>\n<p>\nThe atmosphere was more like a rock concert than the beginning of a religious service, with excited chatter erupting into a chorus of cheering voices that filled the air.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe pope waved to the faithful, and leant across to bless a young girl who rushed out of the crowd to greet him. She walked back to her waiting family, a private moment in front of an audience of thousands in the stadium and millions worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>\nPope Francis circled the inside of the stadium, worshippers leaning out to touch him.<\/p>\n<p>\nThen the congregation fell silent and the service began.<\/p>\n<p>\nThis was a service predominantly for expats \u2014 many of whom live thousands of miles away from family and friends \u2014 a point not lost on the pontiff, who paid tribute to them, saying: \u201cIt is most certainly not easy for you to live far from home, missing the affection of your loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nAlmost two hours after it began, the service came to an end with the congregation leaving as calmly as they arrived \u2014 ready to enjoy the rest of the day\u2019s holiday awarded to any ticket holder who attended the Mass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABU DHABI: It was impossible not to be moved as Pope Francis entered Sheikh Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, ripples of excitement among the worshippers building into ecstatic cheers on a warm Tuesday morning. This was history in the making \u2014 the first time the head of the Roman Catholic Church had visited&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}