The small Catholic commu-nity of the Emirate of Bahrain is preparing to celebrate the solemn opening of the largest Catholic Church in the Arabic Peninsula dedicated to their Patron Saint. The Cathedral of Mary Queen of Arabia will be inaugurated on December 9 – significantly, one day after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. It will be subsequently consecrated on December 10 by Cardinal Louis Tagle, Prefect of the Vati-can Congregation for the Evangelizations of Peoples.  The consecration will be attended only by a small group of faithful, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cathedral, seating 2,300 people, is located in Awali, a small town in the centre of Bahrain. The project dates back to February 2013 when King Hamad donated a 9,000 square-meter piece of land to the local Catholic community so it could build a church. The project was enthusiastically supported the then Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, late Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCI.
The new church is the second cathedral built in the Apostolic Vicariate (which includes Bahrain, Kuwait and, formally, Saudi Arabia).