Sources from Abu Dhabi stated that Pope Francis, the first leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics to visit the Arabian Peninsula, will attend an interfaith meeting in the UAE on Monday as part of his outreach to Muslims. Meanwhile the pontiff arrived in a modest black Kia at Abu Dhabi's presidential palace, where he was welcomed with a lavish military parade. Reportedly officers fired 21 shots in the air, while jets flew overhead leaving white and yellow trails the colors of the Vatican City flag.
Furthermore the pope's highly publicized 48 hour visit to the United Arab Emirates will also include an open-air mass on Tuesday for 135,000 of the Muslim country's million Catholic residents, set to be the largest public gathering in the country's history.
Moreover Sheikh Mohammed said on Monday that UAE rulers were "delighted" to meet the pontiff "in our homeland of tolerance". Apparently Qatar and Bahrain have one each, while ultra-conservative Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia bans all non-Muslim places of worship. Reportedly Muslims make up nearly four fifths of the UAE's population, but the country is also home to nearly a million Catholics, according to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia and the migrants from Asian countries make up about 65 percent of the population.
