Recently, the Ambassador of UAE, Mohamed Issa Abushahab stated that Pope Francis’s visit to the UAE will now kick start the UAE’s Year of Tolerance. Right now with the growth of extremism all through the globe, it’s essential that countermeasures like tolerance and acceptance of eco-cultural diversity are implemented in each and every country.

With the UAE denoting 2019 to be a year of Tolerance, the first ever Papal visit by Pope Francis to the Arabian Peninsula highlights the UAE’s objectives for the year of Tolerance. The UAE even with its Muslim majority proudly identifies itself as a country that respects and embraces each and every religion of the globe. Presently harboring almost 10 million immigrants from all across the world, it features 200 nationalities residing within it. Further, it has 76 Muslim places of worship with 40 churches for Christians and other nationalities to practice their preferred kind of religion.

Adhering to the wishes and views of UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who believed in religious freedom and tolerance, the UAE now wishes to become the epitome of his vision.

After the two devastating world wars, the UAE now knows the key to uniting every person is showing tolerance towards different cultures, ideologies, people and their religion. Hence, by diligently welcoming the Pope to the Arabian culture, the UAE wishes to show its entire people that they have strong ties with the European Union, and their respect for the Christian community is unbound.

Currently, the Pope who visited the UAE on the 5th of February addressed an open-air mass in Abu Dhabi that garnered at least 135,000 Christian worshippers. This was the largest amalgamation of the Christian population as witnessed in Abu Dhabi. The event saw the pope stressing on the importance of brotherhood and how to embrace various cultural diversities. By, ushering the people to embrace tolerance and abdicate extremist views, the pope thus commenced the UAE’s year of Tolerance.