During the Apostolic visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Pope Francis visited the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia on 4 November.
It is the largest church in the region and the first Catholic church in the entire Persian Gulf in modern times.
Our Lady of Arabia Cathedral was dedicated on 10 December 2021 and is located in Awali, Bahrain, south of the country’s capital, Manama.
Bahrain is an emirate where almost the entire population is Muslim. It is estimated that around 80 thousand Christians of all denominations in the country, mainly immigrants from the Philippines and India.
There are 16 icons that represent the mysteries of the Catholic faith and in the center there is a large Crucifix inside the Cathedral.
The devotion to Our Lady of Arabia dates back to December 1948 when a small chapel with this title was created in Kuwait, which guarded a blessed statue in the Vatican by the then Pope Pius XII.
During the visit, the Pope will carry out the traditional rite of sprinkling with holy water and will go to the chapel dedicated to the Virgin, where three children will give flowers to the Marian statue. There, the Pope will pray in silence and sign the Book of Honor.