The pope’s historic trip to Abu Dhabi

This week, Pope Francis visited Abu Dhabi to meet with religious leaders at the Global Inter-Religious Meeting on Human Fraternity, a conference aimed at combating religious extremism.

Where the pope chooses to visit will always be significant. But what makes this trip different from, say, his trip to Panama that we talked about in the last episode of “Inside the Vatican,” is that this is the first time a pope has visited the Arabian Peninsula. And by all accounts, it seems to have been a success.

Gerry told me this week, “I think it’s difficult to convey the long-term consequences that could emerge from this visit.”

On the show, we’ll get into some of the potential consequences of the pope’s work to facilitate interfaith dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, as well as his call for full citizenship protections for the United Arab Emirates’ eight million Christian migrant workers. We’ll also examine whether the pope’s more critical approach to the U.A.E.’s involvement in Yemen’s brutal civil war signifies a shift in his general diplomatic strategy.

Links:

• Preview: Francis makes first-ever papal visit to Arabian Peninsula
• Before arriving in U.A.E., pope challenges his hosts to help end Yemen crisis
• Why Pope Francis is traveling to ‘the heartland of the Muslim world’
• Pope Francis to world’s religious leaders: We build the future together or there will be no future
• Pope Francis leads largest ever Christian act of worship in the Arabian Peninsula
• Pope Francis on Yemen, Venezuela and the abuse of nuns by clergy

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