Pope Francis will in November visit Bahrain, home to the biggest Catholic church in the Arabian peninsula, the Vatican said Wednesday.
Francis, 85, will be the first pope ever to visit the majority-Muslim Gulf country, according to Vatican News.
Pope Francis has been under doctorโs orders to slow down, after suffering from a painful knee that has forced him to use a wheelchair and cancel some events.
โAccepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesial authorities, Pope Francis will make the announced apostolic journey to Bahrain from November 3 to 6 this year,โ the Vatican said in a short statement.
He will be โvisiting the cities of Manama and Awali on the occasion of the โBahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistenceโ,โ it said.
Further details of the visit โ the 39th international trip of Francisโs papacy โ will be released at a later date.
But the pontiff is likely to visit the cavernous Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, in Awali, which opened its doors last year.
The modern-style church lies about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from a large mosque and a stoneโs throw from an oil well, in the south of the state.
It was built to serve the countryโs 80,000 or so Catholics, mainly workers from Asia, mostly India and the Philippines.
The pontiff received Bahrainโs King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa at the Vatican in 2014.
The pair discussed โpeace and stability in the Middle Eastโ and the Christian communityโs positive contribution to the country, the Holy See said at the time.
The trip comes on the back of another journey to a Muslim-majority country, following Francisโs visit to Kazakhstan earlier this month.
