Pope Francis reiterated the Holy See’s commitment to end the fighting and find a way to obtain “a just peace."

"A society that erases women from public life is a society that becomes impoverished," he said.

In their first private one-on-one conversation, the president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, S.D.B., told Pope Francis, “The church in Australia is alive!”

Pope Francis joined Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders on Friday in calling for the great religions to work together for peace.

Commitments to protect tolerance and religious freedom need to be put into practice constantly so that these rights may be fully experienced, Pope Francis said.

The pope will meet with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, at the interreligious meeting “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence."