Holy See opens diplomatic representation in the Emirates
Three years after Pope Francis' visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Holy See on Friday opened its first diplomatic representation in the Gulf country. In this way, the UAE joins other countries in the Arab world such as Iraq and Morocco, where the Vatican maintains what are known as apostolic nunciatures.
The deputy of the Vatican Secretariat of State, Monsignor Edgar Peña Parra, was in charge of announcing the opening during the inauguration mass of the nunciature in the country. This opening represents a "sign of closeness" of the Church to the population, especially to the Catholic community, which represents 11% of Emirati society.
The opening of the papal representation also coincided with the International Day of Human Fraternity proclaimed by the United Nations. A date marked in the calendar for its symbolic importance in the Emirates, as it became the first destination in the Arabian Peninsula to receive the highest authority of the Catholic Church.
During Pope Francis' visit, he was received by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and met among others with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyeb, with whom he signed the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Common Coexistence. This letter helped the Pope to open new avenues of dialogue with Islam, in this case Sunni Islam.
On the same day, Expo 2020 in Dubai hosted the Festival of Human Fraternity, organised by the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence in collaboration with the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity. The event was also attended and participated in by international and Arab entities, including representatives from Al-Azhar and the Vatican, according to the Emirati news agency WAM.
The festival ended with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence and the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity to reaffirm the commitment expressed in the document signed by the Grand Imam and the Pope. The signing was welcomed by both parties, which vindicated the text and called on "the rest of the nations of the world".
This example serves to understand why the Holy See has taken the step of opening a diplomatic representation in the Emirates. In recent years, the Gulf country has emerged as a regional model of coexistence and understanding between different religions and cultures. Unlike some of its neighbours, Abu Dhabi allows freedom of worship, as the country is home to more than one million Christians, mostly Asian nationals, although it also has significant Maronite and Coptic communities.
In this respect, the Emirates offers several Christian temples, such as St Joseph's Cathedral in the capital and the Church of St Francis in Dubai, one of the 11 shrines in the city. This religious respect also extends to Judaism, as the Jewish community in the Emirates has been strengthened since the signing of the Abrahamic Accords, which brought the country closer to the Jewish world.