The Vatican is negotiating to open a church in Saudi Arabia
March 17, 2008
It’s the last country on Earth that bans churches within its borders.
The Vatican is in negotiations with Saudi Arabia to open the first Catholic church in the kingdom.
Archbishop Mounged El-Hachem, the papal envoy to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates said talks had started a few weeks ago, in the wake of King Abdullah’s visit to [Pope Benedict XVI] last November.
Currently, all Saudi citizens are required by law to be Muslim, and the Mutaween, or religious police, strictly prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions.
The last Christian priest was expelled from the kingdom in 1985.
However, the Vatican?s relationship with the Muslim world is improving rapidly, and Qatar opened its first Catholic church on Sunday.
Mgr El-Hachem said a church in Saudi Arabia would be an important sign of ‘reciprocity’ between the faiths.
I find I cannot help but be a bit pessmistic about the prospects of these talks amounting to anything — the Saudi (Wahabbist) strain of Islam is perhaps the most bigoted and narrow-minded of all the various iterations of the religion of the false prophet that can be found in the world. Still, it would be an incredible thing to be able to return the light of the Lord to the darkness of the country that contains within it both Mecca and Medina. Pray for this event to transpire, O Reader, and call upon the intercession of every saint.
