RIFFA, BAHRAIN   -      About
30,000 flag-waving worshippers joined an open-air mass
held by Pope Francis in mainly Muslim Bahrain on Saturday,
the highlight of his outreach
mission to the Gulf. Some of the
congregation had tears in their
eyes as they waited to see the
85-year-old at Bahrain National Stadium, the kingdom’s biggest venue. Francis, who uses
a wheelchair and walking stick
due to knee problems, smiled
and waved to the crowds from
an open-sided popemobile
where he was seated, flanked
by more than a dozen suited security guards and attendants.
As a 100-strong, multinational
choir sang in multiple languages, the Argentine stood to kiss
children lifted up to greet him
in the specially adapted vehicle, which drove slowly towards
a white stage backdropped by a
giant gold cross. “This very land
is a living image of coexistence
in diversity and indeed an image of our world, increasingly
marked by the constant migration of peoples and by a pluralism of ideas, customs and traditions,” he said in an address.