Pope Francis in UAE: In search of
St. Joseph
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| Catholics queue at St.Joseph's Cathedral in Abu Dhabi to receive free tickets for the Pope's Mass. |
As Pope Francis sets off on his Apostolic Journey to the
United Arab Emirates, our correspondent in Abu Dhabi shares a glimpse of the
local Catholic community and Pope Francis' itinerary.
By Linda Bordoni - Abu Dhabi
There are not many Catholic churches in Abu Dhabi, only two
to be precise! One is the relatively recent St. Paul’s built in 2011 to cater
to the spiritual needs of the large Catholic community who live in the
industrial area of Musaffah.
The other is St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and that’s where I
wanted to go because it’s where Pope Francis will stop, pray, and meet with
some members of its community before celebrating Mass on Tuesday morning for
tens of thousands of faithful at the Sports City.
The Pope’s stay in Abu Dhabi is short and the list of places
on his programme is not a long one. So, apart from the just mentioned Sayed
Sports City, it includes:
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is where Pope
Francis will meet with the Council of Elders.
Breathtakingly decorated, it is designed to reflect and
celebrate the wide diversity of the Muslim world with architectural references
to all of the main Mosques of the East. With its 82 domes, its 1.100 majestic
columns, 4 minarets, dozens of crystal chandeliers and the largest hand-woven
Persian carpet in the world, it can host up to 40,000 worshippers. It’s easy to
find thanks to its perfectly proportioned domes that are well visible from
afar, attracting crowds of Emiratis and tourists every day.
The Founder’s Memorial
The Founder’s Memorial is three hectares of luscious
landscaped gardens and houses an enormous installation entitled “The
Constellation” created by the American artist Ralph Helmick.
It’s where the Pope will meet privately with the Council of
Elders and inevitably pay his respects to the beloved Founding Father of the
Nation, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayhan, who shaped the United Arab Emirates
and bestowed upon it a legacy of tolerance and peaceful coexistence making it
the prosperous nation it is today. It’s also easy to find with its allure of
green foliage and birdsong: a place of tranquillity and calm in the midst of
the row of metallic skyscrapers that define the city skyline.
St. Joseph’s Cathedral
And then there is St. Joseph’s Cathedral whose foundation
was laid in 1962 thanks to the far-sighted vision of Sheikh Shakbut.
I had read that the Church welcomes some 100,000 Catholic
migrants from all over the world, and with the growing economy it continues to
witness a steady increase in the number of its flock who pack the Church to
capacity thanks to a tight schedule of Masses in different languages.
“You want to go to the Christian… mosque?” the taxi driver
said to me showing that everyone here knows of its existence. But it proved extremely
difficult to find!
After a long drive through a somewhat lifeless urban
landscape, Google Maps took us to the right address, but I still had to look
hard to pinpoint the building itself which turned out to be a simple, rather
squat rectangular cement edifice, squashed in between a series of other
buildings, and only a few meters from a Mosque and its towering minarets.
Modest is how I would define it: modest and prayerful, with
a joyful crowd of faithful thronging the courtyard outside to pick up their
free tickets for the papal Mass, and with a handful of devoted Catholics
inside, sitting in silence, praying the rosary on their knees, and reaching out
to touch the religious images portrayed inthe simple mosaics with intense love
and trust.
That’s why, I think, Pope Francis will love it!
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