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February 7, 2025Here below is the translation of the interview given in Italian by Bp Paolo Martinelli to Vatican News at the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, on the occasion of Human Fraternity International Day
or Watch the video interview in Italian___________________________________________Vatican News article
Bp Paolo : This is an apostolic vicariate that involves three countries: the United Arab Emirates, Oman and also Yemen. So they are three very different situations, in particular the situation in Yemen, obviously after 10 years of civil war it is very, very hard. There are few Christians left, but we have the presence there of two communities of sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta who do a great work of charity. Then we have the reality of Oman: we have a good number of faithful, four parishes and obviously all our faithful are migrants, no one is let's say native from here. Of course, in Yemen, there is someone let's say native. And then the majority of our faithful are here in the United Arab Emirates.
All together we count about a million Catholics. Their origins are very diverse, they come from about 100 different countries, so we have people with different languages, different spiritual traditions, different cultures, even different rites. So this is truly a Church of migrants who deeply lives the experience of unity in diversity; so the possibility of underlining the value of baptism that unites us all and at the same time the valorization of differences as a wealth, an exchange of gifts that the faithful can realize on many occasions in our parishes.
So, I was saying, the greatest reality is here in the United Arab Emirates: we have 9 parishes and they are very popular. Our churches, let's say, are always full, sometimes we must say overfull. We sometimes have difficulty managing to get all the faithful who want to come to participate. Even the catechism moments are very intense, we have a great participation also from parents who really want to communicate the faith to their children.
I think it is a bit the condition of the migrant that makes it possible to rediscover one's faith as something that is not additional to life, but truly gives strength to life, supports it in the journey of every day, with the difficulties that one must encounter precisely as migrants in this part of the world, having left many things in one's country of origin. And this is the beautiful and great experience that we have of people who rediscover their faith, want to participate in the life of the Church, want to communicate the faith to their children and live in simplicity, but I would also say in tenacity, the desire to be credible witnesses of the Gospel in the midst of this society.
We are here for a majlis on human fraternity. What is this majlis? Why is it important?
Bp Paolo : So this moment is very beautiful, very important, which celebrates the 6 years since the visit of Pope Francis, which took place here, precisely in February 2019 and every year, precisely, we celebrate this visit and the signing of the document on Human Fraternity signed by Pope Francis and the grand imam of Al-Azhar.
So this moment is very important because it is not only a celebration of something that we experienced 6 years ago, but of the profound topicality, or rather I would say growing topicality, of that document.
We are in an extremely special and interesting place: here we are in the Abrahamic Family House that was born, let's say inaugurated two years ago, precisely as a profound gesture of reception of that document on Human Fraternity: so here we actually have a Catholic church, donated to Pope Francis by the President of the United Arab Emirates, we have a mosque and we have a synagogue. Here, in the same reality, in the same center, we also have a Forum for meeting people of different religions who help each other to walk together, to know, respect and value the different religious traditions.
So this is a place where the Human Fraternity document is extremely inspiring and I would say where you can experience this document, that is, that living a brotherhood between people of different faiths is not a utopia, but something real that can be lived every day facing difficulties but living the beauty of a shared journey.
Tomorrow there is the presentation of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity. What is the importance of this award that has been there for 6 years now, I think?
Bp Paolo : Here, exactly, I would also say this award is linked to the Pope's visit and to the document that was signed exactly 6 years ago.
So here, the name Zayed is remembered, obviously it refers to the father of the nation, that is, the one who inspired the United Arab Emirates. He is an extremely interesting personality, with a cosmopolitan vision, let's say of the reality of the Emirates: the ability to bring together 7 emirates and to have, let's say from the beginning the intention to create an open, multicultural nation, where many migrants are hosted, bearers of different cultures and religions.
That's why, let's say, the document was also signed here, very significantly in this nation that was born in 1971, so it has a very recent history but that from the very beginning had this openness and valorization of cultural and religious differences. So, we are celebrating this Zayed Award precisely in memory of that document and also remembering, let's say, the good that this nation has done and is doing in promoting a culture of coexistence and promotion of shared good.
Watch the video interview in Italian
