VIDEO MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
ON THE OCCASION OF HIS UPCOMING APOSTOLIC JOURNEY TO THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

[Multimedia]

Dear People of the United Arab Emirates,

Al Salamu Alaikum / Peace be with you!

In a few days’ time, I am happy to be able to visit your country, a land that seeks to be a model of coexistence, human brotherhood and encounter between different civilizations and cultures, where many find a safe place to work and live freely, while respecting diversity.

I am happy to meet a people who live in the present with an eye to the future. With good reason, Sheikh Zayed, the Founder of the United Arab Emirates, of honoured memory, declared: “True wealth lies not only in material resources, but the true wealth of the nation lies in the people who build the future of their nation … True wealth is mankind”.

I warmly thank His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who invited me to participate in the interreligious meeting on the theme “Human Brotherhood”. And I am grateful to the other Authorities of the United Arab Emirates for the excellent collaboration, generous hospitality, and fraternal welcome offered so nobly to realize this visit.

I thank my friend and dear brother the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al-Tayeb, and all those who collaborated in the preparation of the meeting, for their courage and will to affirm that faith in God unites and does not divide; it brings us closer despite differences; it distances us from hostility and aversion.

I am happy that the Lord has given me this opportunity to write, on your beloved land, a new page in the history of interreligious relations, confirming that we are brothers and sisters even though we are different.

With joy I will soon meet and greet “eyal Zayid fi dar Zayid” / “the children of Zayid in the house of Zayid”, a land of prosperity and peace, a land of sun and harmony, a land of coexistence and encounter!

Thank you very much, and see you soon! Pray for me!