Pope Francis today led the first papal mass in the Arabian Peninsular, attended by more than 170,000 people at a sports stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Cheers erupted inside and outside the Zayed Sports City Stadium as Francis arrived and moved through the crowd in his open-sided Popemobile. The United Arab Emirates is home to about a million expatriate Catholics.
Thousands of people cheering and waving Vatican flags lined the entrance to the stadium, with the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the distance.
Catholics from about 100 nations were expected to attend the Mass, along with about 4,000 Muslims, including government officials, organisers said.
The pope, who arrived on Sunday at the invitation of Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, has used the first papal visit to the region to condemn the war in Yemen and call for greater cooperation between Christians and Muslims.
Chants of “Long live the pope” and “We love you!” echoed from the crowd.
