VOA慢速英语--教皇弗朗西斯对阿拉伯半岛进行历史性访问

Pope Francis Makes Historic Visit to Arabian Peninsula

Pope Francis has become the first pope in history to visit the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.

Francis opened his official visit Monday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Top UAE officials welcomed the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics at the presidential palace. The pope received a traditional military welcome that included a flyover¹ by UAE military aircraft. The airplanes left smoke in yellow and white, the official colors of the Vatican flag.

Welcoming the pope were Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin² Zayed Al Nahyan, and the UAE’s vice³ president and prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

In a message, Pope Francis thanked the crown prince for the warm welcome and said the UAE people were in his thoughts and prayers.

Sheikh Mohammed presented the pope with a document from 1963, in which the then-ruler of Abu Dhabi donated land to build the first Catholic church in the Emirates.

The UAE is home to about 1 million Roman Catholics. Many of them are workers from the Catholic-majority Philippines.

On social media, Sheikh Mohammed wrote about his meeting with the pope. He said they discussed increased cooperation in several areas. They also agreed to seek ways to “achieve peace, stability and development” for all people.

Pope Francis also attended a gathering⁴ of leaders from major world religions, including Christianity and Islam.

The pope told the meeting that religious leaders have a duty to reject war and seek to resolve conflict through negotiation⁶. “God is with those who seek peace,” he said in the speech at Abu Dhabi’s Founder’s Memorial.

Pope Francis warned that unless people of different religions come together to seek “concrete paths of peace,” the future of humanity itself will be in danger.

Speaking in Italian, the pope noted⁷ conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya. He called on the religious leaders to resist such “floods of violence.” He said that, as representatives of the world’s major religions, they have a “duty to reject every nuance⁸ of approval from the word ‘war.’”

The UAE is involved in the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Libya.

The religious leaders also heard from Sheik Ashamed el-Tayeb, leader of Egypt's Al-Azhar, the 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam. He called on Muslims in the Middle East to “embrace” and welcome local Christian⁵ communities.

“You are part of this nation... You are not minorities,” he said. The Islamic leader also called on Muslims in western nations to be involved in their communities and respect local laws.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

church – n.a Christian religious center

stability – n.the quality of not being likely to change or move

concrete – adj.identifying something real or a group of things

nuance – n.small difference in meaning, appearance or sound

embrace – v.to accept new ideas, beliefs or methods

1 flyover   

n.立交桥，天桥

参考例句：

• It took workers more than one year to build this flyover.建造这座立交桥破费工人一年多时间。
• All that came to his bakery should go over a flyover first.所有来他店的人都必须先经过一座立交桥。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。