Bienvenido sea usted al Bahréin la tierra de la fe, la tierra de los hijos de Abdul Qais, hemos estado colmados del mensaje de Cristo desde el siglo III d.c, y tal vez antes de eso, esta fe y amor por Cristo y su madre están en el tejido de nuestra formación.

The country's majority Shiite opposition and human rights activists in Bahrain called on Pope Francis to raise human rights concerns in his first-ever papal trip to Bahrain this week.

Detained figures in Bahrain expressed their hope that "His Holiness the Pope will speak the word of truth that responds to the call of faith and instinct," noting that the Bahraini people have been subjected to violations documented in international reports.

Bahrain's Parliamentary elections will take place only 6 days after His Holiness Pope Francis leaves the country. The ruling family wants to present itself as running a country crowded with dialogues on human tolerance and democracy.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society expressed its hope that His Holiness the Pope undertakes a humanitarian initiative and adopts a call for serious dialogue between the regime and the people, noting that the country lacks true tolerance.

Today, 550 Bahraini families live abroad and among their members are victims, whose nationalities have been stripped from them. You can imagine the magnitude and impact of this number when you know that the population of our country is 700,000, a number that is almost close to the population of the State of the Vatican City, which amounts to 800,000.

En nuestra educación en la que crecimos, es recibir al invitado respetarlo y celebrarlo, discúlpenoslo lo estaremos recibiendo, porque estamos en las prisiones, de la opinión política opositora, somos habitantes de esta pequeña y tranquila isla.

One of our customs that we grew up adhering to is welcoming, honoring, and celebrating guests, but we would like you to excuse our absence. We will not be able to be among those welcoming you since we are behind bars in the prisons of opposing political opinion.

In March last year, during his visit to Iraq, His Holiness the Pope met with religious leaders, including the supreme religious authority Sayed Ali Al-Sistani, but would he do the same in Bahrain?

The Vatican announced the official program for Pope Francis', who is to visit Bahrain for four days early next month.

Pope Francis will visit the Kingdom of Bahrain from Nov. 3-6 to participate in the "Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence," the Vatican confirmed on Sept. 28.