While Francis is building on two of his priorities with his Sunday-Tuesday visit to the United Arab Emirates – promoting interfaith dialogue and visiting the Catholic peripheries – diplomatic protocol is likely to dictate that he leaves other concerns behind.
The Emirates’ support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the UAE’s problematic record on human rights and labour violations at home are likely to get a pass – at least in public.
Francis is travelling to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on inter-religious dialogue sponsored by the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam.
It is the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning that trains clerics and scholars from around the world.
It will be the fifth meeting between Francis and Sheikh el-Tayeb, evidence that Al-Azhar’s freeze in relations with the Holy See sparked by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 comments linking Islam to violence has thoroughly thawed.
In a video message to the Emirates on the eve of his trip, Francis paid homage to his “friend and dear brother” Sheikh el-Tayeb and praised his courage in calling the meeting to assert that “God unites and doesn’t…
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