World leaders sadly ignored Pope Francis' pleas

Arab News

22-04-2025

https://arab.news/mw5hn
Pope Francis was the first pontiff to come to the Arabian Gulf. During his historic visit in February 2019, he held a Mass in Abu Dhabi before tens of thousands of devoted Catholics and also signed the 'Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.' The agreement, which he signed with Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar Mosque, pledged a lasting partnership to reject violence and extremism.
During that 2019 visit, I attended several of the events, including a two-day conference on tolerance. The aim of the conference, like the document, was to promote tolerance across faiths. Unsurprisingly, all agreed to be nice to each other — and not just the Abrahamic faiths, as everyone who was there, including Buddhists and Hindus, agreed.
There was a sense of hope that this group of largely men agreed that they were on the right path to a global community of tolerance. However, when I carried out a straw poll of faith leaders at the event, asking if they were simply preaching to the converted, most, if not all, agreed. After all, it was what they and their predecessors had been doing for at least two millennia.
But, in fairness, those who attended the conference, like the tens of thousands at the Sunday Mass that week, probably would not have wanted to sit in a room with the truly intolerant, whether that is hostile nations or international groups fueled by hatred and a lust for power and murder.
The papal visit to the UAE finished with a Mass at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, with tens of thousands of worshippers bussed in to see the pope. The atmosphere was extraordinary. There was a buzz in the air as people waited for the moment — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most.
He wanted both the church and the world to make a greater effort to live in a time of peace, acceptance and tolerance
Peter Harrison
And then he came, with a ripple of cheers and applause gradually working its way through the crowds outside the stadium as people lined the route of the popemobile. Then he entered the stadium and the faithful cheered. A baby was handed to him and a child ran to give him a flower.
Here was the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the 'People's Pope,' the 'humble man,' who had made it clear from the outset of his reign that he wanted to clean up the reputation of the church and make sure that both it and the world started making a greater effort to live in a time of peace, acceptance and tolerance.
Is that what happened?
Since that visit in 2019, we have seen the world brought to its knees with the COVID-19 lockdowns, while we have also been trapped in a long-running era of economic turbulence and war.
It is impossible to say precisely how many people have been killed as a result of the wars and unrest over the past six years. Thousands continue to die after boarding unsafe boats in an attempt to cross seas and secure a better life.
Pope Francis spent years pleading with world leaders, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and American presidents. If their hand was on a trigger or behind the person's who was, then the pope probably pleaded with them to lay down their arms and follow a path of peace.
Like so many in his generation, Pope Francis lived through the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, to name just three. He saw the creation and subsequent fall of the Iron Curtain — both physical and metaphorical — and he lived through the creation of Israel and the dismantling of Palestine.
Pope Francis was around as the rainforests were intentionally depleted so that farmers could produce more beef. The world has continued to warm, but politicians have failed to deliver on promise after promise to reverse climate change and global warming.
There is no denying that he was a modernizer who wanted to bring the church forward in its attitudes and acceptances
Peter Harrison
The role of women in most major religions remains far behind that of their fellow male worshippers. But while Pope Francis pushed forward, clearing the way for more women to progress through the various layers of the church, he stopped short of agreeing to them being ordained as clergy.
There is no denying that he was a man of progression, a modernizer who wanted to bring the church forward in its attitudes and acceptances. Whether he succeeded will be seen when his successor is announced.
But as democracy has shown us, the apparently good efforts of one person can be negated in an instant by those that follow.
The generation of which Pope Francis was a part was born into turmoil and war and, sadly, it seems they will leave us in a similar state.
Pope Francis clearly had ambitions of creating a world where people worked together. COVID presented that opportunity, but instead it ended up being used as a platform for yet more finger-pointing. The world is increasingly becoming more insular and nationalistic.
The world is mourning the loss of Pope Francis. He called on world leaders to opt for peace, but they smiled and dismissed his calls. If they truly cared and if their thoughts of sorrow and remorse were genuine, then maybe, before he died, they might have come to the table and stopped the killing. They might have chosen to work together.