80,000 Catholics wait to join Pope Francis's open-air mass Friday

Around 80,000 Roman Catholics of the country's Christian community are excitingly waiting to join an open-air mass prayer on Friday at Suhrawardy Udyan as their supreme priest Pope Francis is now in their own yard to lead the prayer with his all blessings. "We took all our preparations to arrange the mass where around 80,000 Catholics from our eight Dioceses across Bangladesh will join with His Holiness Pope Francis for offering peace and prosperity for all the people of Bangladesh," Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario, the top Catholic official of Bangladesh, told journalists at a press briefing earlier in the week. Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet as the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon on a three-day state visit. D'Rozario said that the Pope comes to celebrate peace and harmony in Bangladesh is a matter of immense joy, hope and pride for the Christian community. A 21-gun salute heralded the arrival of the 80-year-old Pope Francis when he alighted from a VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in Dhaka, wrapping up his three-day Myanmar visit, at around at 3:05pm, received by President Md Abdul Hamid. The Pope also led same kind of open-air mass in Yangon during his visit to Myanmar where he called tens of thousands of people to shun anger and revenge. His call for justice, human rights and respect for all to Myanmar people were widely seen as applicable to the Rohingyas, who are not recognised as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnic group. "The twofold aspects of His Holiness visit here is - a state visit because he is the Head of the State of Vatican and a pastoral visit since he is the supreme pastor of the Catholic Church and its Spiritual Head," D'Rozario, Arch Bishop of Dhaka said. Pope Francis is the second Pope visiting Bangladesh. About 31 years ago, on November 19, 1986, His Holiness Pope John Paul II had officially visited Bangladesh. Meanwhile, an intensified security measures were taken centring the visit of the Catholic priest to Bangladesh specially surrounding the Suhrawardy Udyan. After leading the mass, Pope Francis will visit the Vatican Embassy (Apostolic Nunciature) in Dhaka at Baridhara where he will meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the afternoon. Later in the day tomorrow, Pope will hold a meeting with Bishops of Bangladesh in the garden of Arch Bishop's house in the city. On Saturday, Pope Francis will visit Tejgaon Mother Theresa House and meet with priests, religious and consecrated men and women, seminarians and novices in the church of the Holy Rosary in Tejgaon. He will deliver a speech before nearly 10,000 youths in Notre Dame College in the capital at 3:20pm. The Pope will leave Dhaka at 5pm after receiving an official farewell at the airport.

DMP takes special security measures

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has taken special security measures centring Friday’s gathering at Suhrawardy Udyan. "We have taken all possible measures to ensure foolproof security of the venue where around one lakh people mostly Christian community will be gathered to hear Pope Francis," Deputy Commissioner Md Maruf Hossain Sardar of Ramna Police Zone told BSS on Thursday. The entire venue has been brought under stringent security arrangements with deployment of additional numbers of police, Rapid Action Battalion, bomb disposal units, and intelligence personnel installing necessary closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, archways and watchtowers in and around the venue, he said. No one will be allowed to enter the venue without going through search, he said, adding that the venue has already been swept by the dog squads. The DMP has also planned stringent security arrangements centring venues, hotels, airport and the routes. All the venues where the Pope will attend the meetings will be swooped by the dog squads and will remain under the coverage of CCTV cameras, Maruf said. Police will be deployed on rooftops of different buildings surrounding the hotel where the Pope will stay, the venues and the paths. The Pope is scheduled to return on Saturday.