Historic Visit of Pope Francis to the UAE

Pope Francis ministered on Tuesday to the thriving Catholic community in the United Arab Emirates as he concluded his historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula with the first-ever papal Mass here.

Cheers erupted inside and out the Zayed Sports City Stadium as Francis arrived and looped through the crowd in his open-sided popemobile before Mass. Chants of "Viva il Papa" and "We love you!" accompanied him as he waved to the crowd.

A day after making a broad appeal for Christian and Muslim leaders to work together to promote peace and reject war, Francis is celebrating what is being billed as the largest show of public Christian worship on the peninsula, the birthplace of Islam. The Mass was expected to draw some 135,000 faithful.

The stadium, which has a capacity of about 43,000, filled up early in the day while crowds outside were being organized in pens to watch the Mass on giant screens. Organizers said faithful from 100 countries would attend - as well as 4,000 Muslims from this Muslim federation. Prompted by an announcer extolling UAE's "Year of Tolerance," they cheered and waved Holy See flags awaiting Francis' arrival.

"We have to say it is really a big event for us which we never expected," said Sumitha Pinto, and Indian native who has lived in the UAE for nearly 20 years. She attended the Mass with her husband and four sons. Her youngest held up sign with the pope's photo that read: "Welcome Pope Francis. Make Me a Channel of Your Peace."

The Emirates' Catholic community is something an anomaly for the region - large, diverse and thriving at a time when the wider Mideast has seen an exodus of Christians fleeing persecution at the hands of the Islamic State group and others.

The Catholic Church estimates as many as 1 million...

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