Pre-Muslim country to visit Pope for the first time

This will be Francescu's tenth trip to a predominantly Muslim country. Less than 80 thousand Catholics live in Bahrain from a population of 1.3 million.

The “will also be a sign for Shiite Islam, as part of the approach strategy with various branches of Muslim faith that the Pope is pursuing”, said Giuseppe Ciutti, an Italian priest who has been in Iraq and studies relations between Islam and Catholicism.

Paul Hinder, apostolic administrator of the Northern Arabia region, which includes Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, has said at a press conference that the Pope's trip to Bahrain followed a path that began with “Document on the Human Brotherhood for World Peace and Coexistence”, which the pope signed in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi.

Hinder believes the Pope will implement a positive strategy to reach the different currents of Muslim faith and extend an invitation to continue dialogue with other religions.

Bahrain will be the 58th place visited by Pope Francisescu since he arrived at the Vatican's helm. He'll be the first pope in history to step there.