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November 8, 2024On Sunday 3rd of November, the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia witnessed a historic moment: the blessing of St Francis of Assisi Church at the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, and the dedication of its altar.
The inaugural prayer service was held in February 2023, and the blessing of the church and dedication of the altar finally took place after Pope Francis received last may the letter from the President of the United Arab Emirates, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, officially confirming the gift of this church to Pope Francis and thus to the Catholic Church. On the 28th of October, a delegation of the Abrahamic Family House was received in the Vatican, giving the Holy Father a model of St Francis Church as a sign of this gift.
As a sign of the closeness of Pope Francis, the ceremony was presided over by H. E. Archbishop Christophe El-Kassis, Apostolic Nuncio to the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, and Legal Representative of the Holy See for this church. “On this joyful day”, he declared, “I wish to reiterate the sentiments of gratitude of His Holiness Pope Francis to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his continuous commitment for peace and dialogue among religions and societies, which is visibly materialized through the construction of the Abrahamic Family House, and in a special way, in the donation of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi to the Holy Father”.
The homily was given by H.E. Bishop Paolo Martinelli, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia to whom the pope entrusted the pastoral animation of this church. During the homily, Monsignor Martinelli referred to the Gospel of Zaccheus, “a son of Abraham”, mentioning the Abrahamic Family House as a “place for the children of Abraham to meet, to recognize themselves as participants in a long history” and inviting us to “recognize like Zacchaeus that we are all children of Abraham. We are his descendants. This allows us to walk together with every person of goodwill, whatever their religion may be, and contribute to a peaceful coexistence and to the construction of a more human and fraternal world.”
This call was stressed as well by Fr. Stefano Luca, OFM Cap., responsible for the pastoral, cultural and interreligious activities linked to this church, and Director of the recently created Interfaith and Ecumenical Dialogue Office of the vicariate, for whom this event “is a milestone that unequivocally shows and underlines the full commitment of the Catholic Church towards Human Fraternity”. He also shared how for him “it is important and beautiful to see that the meeting between St Francis of Assisi and Sultan of Egypt Al-Malik Al-Kāmil in Damietta in 1219, established a friendship and interfaith dialogue that was reiterated eight hundred years later in Abu Dhabi with the signature of the co-written document on Human Fraternity For World Peace And Living Together by the Holy Father and Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the grand Imam of Al Azhar”. This document gave the impulse for the Abrahamic Family House which includes three distinct houses of worship: the Catholic Church of St Francis, a Synagogue and a Mosque. “This unique place is a concrete and powerful sign of the reception of the document”, he stated.
H. E. Bp Emeritus Paul Hinder, who witnessed the signature of the document on Human Fraternity as he was the Apostolic Vicar at that time, took also part in the ceremony, concelebrating the mass. This was the occasion for him to recall with gratitude how it all started: “The blessing is the solemn conclusion of a story that began in late 2018. In preparation of the papal visit, already in the first meeting, the representative of the Abu Dhabi government revealed that H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed intended to donate a church to Pope Francis”, and “on 4th February 2019 was signed not only the document about Human Fraternity but also the foundation stone for the Abrahamic Family House”. For him, “it was a joyful experience to see the completion of the work by the blessing”.
Other members of the clergy were also present among which were, Fr. Peter P. M. OFM Cap., Vicar Delegate, Fr. Chito Bartolo OFM Cap., parish priest of St Joseph’s parish that canonically includes also St Francis church, and Fr. Michael Fernandes OFM Cap., Custos of the Capuchins of the Arabian Peninsula as this land was entrusted to the care of the Capuchin Order since the establishment of the then Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia in 1889. The religious sisters serving in Abu Dhabi, in the Catholic schools and the parish, the Rosary and the Carmelite Sisters, and many faithful participated in the ceremony as well. The faithful expressed their joy and emotion in witnessing this special event and this two-hour-long liturgy that was made even more beautiful thanks to the twenty altar servers.
The altar servers shared that taking part in this ceremony was truly a “profound blessing”, a “rare gift”, an “incredible honor” as for many it was their first church blessing ceremony. Most of them expressed that the most touching moment was the pouring of oil on the altar and the incense rite, as they were so close to it. Marisa, 17 years old, described it as "a glimpse of heaven on earth," noting "the smoke from the incense hovering in the form of a cloud, the cross shining with glory and the heavenly choir". For some, it was “a humbling experience”, that has “deepened [their] appreciation for the sacredness of our liturgy” and “the significance of the altar”. All of them expressed their gratitude to God for this unique moving spiritual experience that will remain "a lifelong memory."
After the ceremony, a buffet-dinner was shared outdoors in the garden of the Abrahamic Family House, where are planted only types of trees, plants and flowers that are mentioned at least once in one of the three Holy Books: the Bible, the Qur'an, and the Torah.
The Apostolic Vicar expressed his “gratitude to the Emirati authorities, and especially to the President of the United Arab Emirates”, and as the one in charge of the pastoral care of this church, he shared: “I feel all the responsibility to promote among our faithful an authentic Christian life, centered on the following of Christ, in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, in the rediscovery of their baptism that made us children of God. At the same time, I wish that our faithful recognize dialogue and respect for people of different faiths as an integral part of their Christian testimony and as a commitment to the construction of a more fraternal and human world from the perspective of the Kingdom of God.”
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Full text of the Homily of Bp Paolo Martinelli OFM Cap.
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