The mission of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue takes on a very particular aspect in the Gulf. The General Custody of Arabia has about eighty friars from seventeen circumscriptions of the Order and is part of two apostolic vicariates: Southern Arabia and Northern Arabia. Our service is entirely dedicated to the ecclesial mission of serving migrants in the seven countries that make up the Arabian Gulf: the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
Where the Christian community is a minority within countries with an Islamic majority, dialogue is not an optional element, but a daily and decisive dimension of the life and mission of the Church. On the one hand, it allows us to understand and internalize that dialogue is not an addition to the Christian faith, but belongs to its very nature; on the other hand, it allows us to support and strengthen the process of peaceful coexistence that, albeit in different ways and with varying degrees of intensity, these countries are trying to promote with regard to Christian communities. When we speak of a minority, however, it is necessary to refer to significant numbers overall: in fact, there are an estimated three million practicing Catholics in the entire region. This makes the Church particularly lively and dynamic, characterized by a strong lay presence that generates a surprisingly joyful and creative vitality.
In our mission territories, it is necessary to consider that foreign residents from all over the world constitute the vast majority of the population. In order to coincide with our profound religious and cultural differences, the dynamics of dialogue are essential. For this reason, the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, Msgr. Paolo Martinelli, OFMCap, decided to establish an office in the vicariate dedicated to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue. The office has been focusing on prioritizing two areas in recent years: building and strengthening relations with religious leaders of other faiths and different Christian denominations and training pastoral workers in the vicariate.
Three initiatives are particularly noteworthy:
- an academic formative course entitled From the Meeting Between St. Francis and the Sultan to the Document on Human Fraternity, offered in collaboration with the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Antonianum University (Chair of Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue, Bishop Luigi Padovese) and with the Institute of Ecumenical Studies “San Bernardino” of the same university
- a one-week in-residence formative course for delegates of episcopal conferences involved in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, entitled Formation and Sharing in the Context of the Document on Human Fraternity and its Reception and Resonance
- a week-long experiential formative course to discover a Church made up entirely of migrants. Participants discover the Church’s mission in the Gulf region and reflect on how some of its ecclesiological and pastoral service elements could become new paradigms for the Church of the future.
Finally, there are numerous projects linked to the significant anniversaries we are currently celebrating: the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the 60th anniversary of the conciliar document Nostra Aetate, and the Franciscan anniversaries the Order is currently celebrating, starting in 2019 (the eighth centenary of the meeting between St. Francis and the Sultan) until 2026, the year of the Transitus of St. Francis. Our Seraphic Father thus continues to reveal himself as a prophet of friendship and a bridge of dialogue between religions and cultures.