Our Lady of Arabia : A Catholic Oasis in the Land of Islam

It took more than 13 centuries to see a Catholic sanctuary be built again: needless to say, divine Providence has been involved throughout ... Because, in the land of Islam, nothing is simple when it comes to giving back its right of citizenship to Catholic worship.

This has been done since the consecration of Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral in Awali, Bahrain, on December 10: the ceremony had to conform to a “Covid-19 format,” however, since health restrictions forced most of the faithful to follow the ceremony as it was livestreamed.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, even made the trip to preside over the rite of dedication. This was high prelate’s opportunity to meet his many Filipino compatriots who, along with the Indians, had come to serve as cheap labor for an opulent kingdom, and form the main part of the 80,000 Christians present in the region.

In fact, the story of the “Cathedral of the Sands” really begins on February 11, 2013, the anniversary of the feast of the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes. On that day, Sultan Hamed ben Issa granted 9,000 square meters of land to the Catholic community, who viewed it as a sign from heaven.

On May 19, 2014, the Muslim monarch was received in audience by Pope Francis at the Vatican, and even offered the sovereign pontiff a plastic model of the cathedral under construction.

Six and a half years later, the head of the small state of the Arabian Peninsula civilly inaugurated the brand new place of worship the day before its dedication, and sent an official invitation to the Holy Father to visit his country.

Bahrain's new cathedral will accommodate 2,300 people. It is dedicated especially to Our Lady, on land where Christianity once flourished.