Pope Francis on historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula

Pope Francis' three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday marks the first visit of a pontiff to the Muslim Arab conservative peninsula, home to more than 2.6 million Catholics.

While the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the region are expatriates, according to the apostolic vicariates of southern and northern Arabia, the Pope's journey to the birthplace of Islam is another milestone in its efforts to strengthen interreligious links.

Kuwait was the first country in the region to formalize its relations with the Vatican in 1968. Yemen followed suit in 1998, Bahrain in 2000, Qatar in 2002 and the United Arab Emirates in 2007.

Saudi Arabia and Oman have not yet established official diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Last year, Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina, hosted many representatives of various Christian traditions, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pleaded for a more liberal kingdom.

In April 2018, Saudi Arabia welcomed French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican. Tauran, who died in July 2018, was seen as a strong advocate of dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam.

And in November 2017, the head of the Maronite church of Lebanon, Beshara Rai, paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia where he met King Salman and Prince Mohammed.

In total, there are more than 3.5 million Christians in the Gulf, about 75% of whom are Catholic, mostly migrant workers from the Philippines and India.

According to the apostolic vicariates, there would be more than one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia alone, about 350,000 in Kuwait, 80,000 in Bahrain and between 200,000 and 300,000 in Qatar, although no official figures does not exist to date.

Nearly one million Catholics live in the UAE, according to Bishop Paul Hinder, Bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of South Arabia, which includes the UAE, Oman and Yemen.

There are 22 Catholic churches in the area, where worshipers are invited to visit and pray.

The UAE has the largest number of Catholic churches in the region with eight. Oman, Kuwait and Yemen each have four, while Qatar and Bahrain each have one.

Friday church mbad, which marks the first day of the weekend in the region, generally has the highest participation rate.

In the UAE, Mbad is held at different times of the week and in different languages ​​- including English, Tagalog, Malayalam and Urdu – in order to adapt to different nationalities.

According to the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia – covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – Catholics "enjoy freedom of worship in the precincts of the city." pregnant of our parish ".

Although in Saudi Arabia, all non-Muslim houses of prayer are forbidden.

The Apostolic Vicariate added that Catholics faced certain difficulties because of the "limitation of the number of priests, the small number of churches and the limited space in the churches", especially at Christmas. and at Easter, where attendance at the Mbad can reach 25,000 people.

"It is also forbidden (under pain of punishment) to participate in any public activity or manifestation of religion, including proselytism (attempt to convert people to Christianity)," said the Apostolic Vicariate of North Arabia. .

While the majority of Christians in the region are migrant workers, there are a small number of local Christians in Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen.

According to Father Emmanuel Benjamin Jacob Gharib, head of the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait, there are about 260 Kuwaiti Christians from eight extended families.

According to unofficial estimates, there are 1,000 Bahraini Christian citizens and thousands of Yemeni Christians.