Bahrain Opens Largest Cathedral in The Gulf to Coincide With Christmas

ALBAWABA - Bahrain held its first Mass on Sunday for its Christian community in the country. It was held in the largest Catholic church according to Anadolu. 

Father Saji Thomas led the Mass in “Our Lady of Arabia", located 20 kilometers south of the capital, Manama and has the status of a cathedral because it is the largest in the Arab Gulf  and it was opened last Thursday at a cost of over $10 million.

According to the Bahraini state news agency, the cathedral can seat up to 2,300 people and will serve the 80,000 Catholic Christians in Bahrain, who are mainly workers from India and the Philippines.

Writing on the social media, a priest named Father V says the construction of the church began in February 2013 when King Hamad of Bahrain donated 9,000 square metres of land to the local Catholic community. 

Vatican Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has consecrated the new Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Bahrain. He described it as “a living sign of God’s care for his flock.”

Another by the name of Cathryn Papadopoulo wrote the Our Lady of Arabia cathedral is "a meaningful name, adding to the progressing vision of unity & tolerance in the Arab world"
The Cathedral was opened by King Hamad's personal representative Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa opened the largest Roman Catholic Cathedral in the Arabian Peninsula...in Awali, it was tweeted.

The Gulf's first Roman Catholic church, "The Sacred Heart Church", was opened in Manama in 1939 Anadolu pointed out.