Manama: Thousands of Christians across the Gulf attended Pope Francis' massive mass gathering on Saturday as he shifted the focus of his four-day visit to serve the Catholic community in the predominantly Muslim region.

With prayers in Malay, Tagalog and Tamil, as well as an English-speaking priest who provided a translation of the pope's original Spanish sermon, English-language worship was explicitly designed for South Asian migrant workers, who live in most of the Gulf. make up the part. Catholic.

Francis looped around the Bahrain National Stadium in his Popmobile before Mass as pilgrims waved yellow and white flags of the Holy See while donning identical white hats to protect from the morning sun. There was loud cheers when he kissed a young girl brought in the car in a bubblegum pink dress.

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The Vatican reported that local organizers believed 30,000 people attended the service. Passes for the event, according to the organisers, were snatched within two days of going on sale, with pilgrims traveling from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf countries.

Bijoy Joseph, an Indian based in Saudi Arabia, attended and said, "It is indeed a huge honour." It feels like a blessing to be present at the Papal Mass of our Holy Father in Bahrain.

Francis is on his first papal visit to the island nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia, which is the size of New York City. The main objective was to participate in an interreligious conference sponsored by the government to advance Catholic-Muslim communication. But for the past two days, he changed his strategy to focus on serving the Catholic community, the minority with about 1.5 million people in the nation.

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Most come from South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, the Philippines and others, and many have left their families behind to work in the construction, oil extraction and domestic service sectors of Bahrain.

Francis urged them to be kind and to turn the other cheek "even when evil is done to us" in their home.

"There will be examples of conflict, tense situations, disagreements and opposing viewpoints, but those who follow the Prince of Peace must continually work towards peace.

And if a harsh word is met with an even harsher word, peace cannot be restored” he said. No, to free us from the grip of evil, to stop the cycle of violence, and to stop feeling To "disarmament" is required. Sorry for myself.

Indian Sebastian Fernandez, a resident of Bahrain, expressed his gratitude for being able to participate. He predicted that Mass would be fruitful and expressed his happiness on seeing the Pope.

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Francis met young people at the Sacred Heart School, which was founded in the 1940s and is associated with the church of the same name, the first Catholic church built in the bay after Mass. Francis meets with nuns and priests. Church to conclude his stay on Sunday.