Manama : Catholics in Bahrain and the Middle East wait prayerfully for the official opening of the new Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, patron saint of the Arabian Peninsula.
The new Catholic Cathedral in Bahrain will be officially inaugurated by His Majesty, the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on 9th December. The Church will be Consecrated on 10th December by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Louis Antonio Gokim Tagle. Archbishop Eugene Nugent, Apostolic Nuncio to Kuwait and Qatar; Bishop Paul Hinder OFM Cap, Apostolic Vicar of Apostolic of Southern Arabia and the Apostolic Administrator of the Vicariate of Northern Arabia will be the co-celebrants of the Consecration ceremony.
Our “Lady of Arabia Cathedral” was the dream project of Late Bishop Camillo Ballin, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia. The newly completed Cathedral is in the name of the Virgin Mary and is in Awali municipality near Manama city in Bahrain. The Civil Inauguration of the Cathedral will be held on Thursday, 9th December 2021 at 11.00 am and the Consecration will take place on Friday, 10th December at 10.00 am.
Pope Francis recently met Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the special envoy of the King of Bahrain, who gave the pontiff a personal invitation from the monarch to visit the country. In 2014, His Majesty King Hamad personally presented the Holy Father with a model of the future cathedral.
Bahrain is home to around 80,000 Catholics; a vast majority of them come from the Philippines and India. The Cathedral with a chapel and car parking facility has been constructed on a land area of 9000sqm which was gifted by the King of Bahrain. The Cathedral has the capacity to accommodate 2300 faithful.
The decision to construct the Cathedral was taken on 11th February 2013. The head of this project Fr.Saji Thomas, Fr.Saviour Marian Dsouza, Rodrigo C Acousta, Jesus C Palincode, Micheal Bueno Carni, Jickson Jose Benoy, Benoy Abraham and Ranjith John had participated in the press meet announcing the inauguration and consecration of new cathedral church in Manama.