杏MAP导航

By Vatican News staff reporter

In an interview with Vatican News鈥� Devin Watkins, Ms. Loredana Mantello, an Italian photographer who has been living in Bahrain for eighteen years, shares her thoughts on the meaning of the 杏MAP导航鈥檚 visit to the country.

Despite being a foreigner, Ms.Mantello said she views Bahrain as 鈥渉er home,鈥� and says she feels very welcome in the country: 鈥淢y love for Bahrain is shown in every single moment,鈥� she said.

A country 鈥榦pen to all religions'

As this is 杏MAP导航 Francis鈥� first visit to the country, Ms. Mantello said the visit is very 鈥渆motional鈥� for her and her community.

The visit demonstrates how open the country is to all religions, Ms. Mantello continued, underscored by the king鈥檚 donation of land to build the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia.

The church and mosque in Manama, the capital, she noted, are also physically very close together; 鈥渨hen you go visit the church, you see the mosque,鈥� she noted, making it feel that 鈥渨e are all brothers.鈥�

A visit of dialogue and encounter

杏MAP导航 Francis will be in Bahrain from 3-6 November: it is his 39th Apostolic Journey abroad and his 58th country visited as 杏MAP导航.

The visit will centre on the themes of 鈥渆ncounter鈥� and "encouragement" for Catholics in the region.

杏MAP导航 Francis will also attend the closing ceremony of the first-ever 鈥淏ahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence鈥�, which will see around 200 interfaith leaders gathered to promote fraternity.