Pope Benedict Invited to Visit Muslim State of Bahrain!! (Links and pics)

Speaking as a Conservative , sometimes the right does not do good of enough a job pointing out what is going right in the Arab and Moslem World.

Notice the reaction (that was aided by the left too) around the Dubai Terminal Lease deal a few years back. It is important for us all to reconize and aid the progress we are seeing. Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa is one that should be encouraged!!!

That is what Pope Benedict did today. A few stories from the European and Arab press. Thanks to the Ratzinger Forum for the pics and first Story.

Something that jumps out ot me. IS this the first time a Pope has been invited to come to a Arab Muslim Country in the Gulf? If so is this not significant?

Pope receives the King of Bahrain (Translated from German Wires)

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 9 (dpa) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday met Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa thanking him for the "welcome he has shown to many Christian immigrants," a Vatican statement said.

For his part, Al-Khalifa invited the Pontiff to visit the mostly Muslim island-state of Bahrain.

The Pontiff, who since last week has been staying in his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo in the hills south of Rome, received the monarch for morning talks. Al-Khalifa also held a separate meeting with the Vatican's equivalent of a foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. "In the course of the discussions, which took place in a cordial atmosphere," a Vatican statement said.

The talks stressed the "importance of collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion - in the Middle East and throughout the world - of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values" the Vatican statement said.

Bahrain's official religion is Islam, which is followed by 80 percent of the country's population of some one million. Christians are estimated to number around 100,000 and are mostly immigrants from India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

From the Bahrain News Agency

ROME, JULY 9 (BNA) -- HIS MAJESTY KING HAMAD BIN ISA AL KHALIFA, CURRENTLY ON A VISIT TO ITALY, MET IN VATICAN ON WEDNESDAY WITH POPE BEN EDICT XVI . OUR MEETING WITH THE POPE IS A CONTINUATION OF THE DIALOGUE AND CONSULTATION THAT BEGAN IN THE ERA OF POPE JOHN PAUL II, HM THE KING SAID

.OUTLINING WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE MEETING, HM THE KING SAID TALKS WERE FRANK AND CONSTRUCTIVE DURING WHICH THE FOCUS WAS PLACED ON THE NEED TO EXTEND BRIDGES OF UNDERSTANDING AND CO-EXISTENCE, EMPHASIZE HUMAN COMMON VALUES AS COMMON TRAITS OF ALL FAITHS AND SPREAD LOVE AND TOLERANCE THROUGH SOLID TIES WITH THE VATICAN

.IN THIS CONTEXT, THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN WHICH FOSTERS ALL THE ABOVE VALUES HAS TAKEN MANY INITIATIVES, HOSTED RELEVANT CONFERENCES AND FORUMS TO ATTAIN COMMON GOALS, HM NOTED.

HE ALSO POINTED OUT THAT BAHRAIN ACCOMMODATES THE OLDEST AND MOST ACTIVE CATHOLIC CHURCHES INTHE REGION SUCH AS THE SACRED HEART CHURCH WHICH WAS FOUNDED IN 1940 AS THE FIRST CHURCH OF ITSKIND IN THE GULF.THE KINGDOM IS ALSO HOME TO SOME 30 CATHOLIC, PROTESTANT, ORTHODOX AND COPTIC CHURCHES AND IS PROUD THAT 1000 CHRISTIAN BAHRAINIS LIVE HAPPILY AND ARE ECONOMICALLY, SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLYACTIVE AS WELL AS THEY OCCUPY HIGH POSITIONS SUCH AS THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE SHURA COUNCIL.

THE KINGDOM WILL PROCEED WITH ITS EFFORTS TO ENHANCE CO-EXISTENCE, HM SAID, EXPRESSING DELIGHTOVER HIS MEETING WITH THE POPE AND VOWING TO WORK ON FURTHER DIALOGUE.SHAIKH ABDULLAH BIN HAMAD AL KHALIFA, ROYAL COURT MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRSALSO ATTENDED THE AUDIENCE.