As the Church in the Arabian Peninsula begins its Holy Year for the 1,500th anniversary of the Martyrs of Arabia (523-2023), the second of two Holy Doors was opened at Mass on Thursday evening in St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi.
The Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, Bishop Paolo Martinelli, OFM Cap., presided over the Mass as part of the Extraordinary Jubilee proclaimed in the Apostolic Vicariates of Northern and Southern Arabia for the occasion.
During the Mass, Bishop Martinelli opened the Holy Door at the Cathedral, to which Pope Francis made a private visit du-ring his February 2019 visit to Abu Dhabi.
Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, pre-sent these days in Abu Dhabi for the Global Faith Leaders Summit in view of COP28, and the Apo-stolic Nuncio to the United Arab Emirates, Archbishop Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, took part in the celebration.
The Apostolic Vicar of Nor-thern Arabia, Bishop Aldo Bera-rdi, delivered the homily, reca-lling the ancient roots of Chri-stianity in the region.
When modern Christians first came to the Gulf region, he said, they thought that Christianity arrived with them and the dis-covery of oil.
“Then one day, unexpected ly, archeologists found the rem-ains of monasteries, churches, and crosses in the rocks and the deserts,” said Bishop Berardi. “Therefore, we are not a new Church. We are the continuation of that Church.”
Though modern Christians cannot proselytize in the Gulf, he said, “we must live as witne-sses to Jesus every day: in our daily lives, our work, our fami-lies, our honesty, our consistency of life, and our relationships with others.”