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The presence of the Catholic Church in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia
The fIrst Vicariate in Arabia was established in 1888 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Aden and entrusted to the Capuchin Franciscans of Lyons, France. A year later the name of the Vicariate was changed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia and covered the whole Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. For almost a hundred years the Apostolic Vicar of Arabia lived in Aden, Yemen. On 1st January 1974, St. Joseph's Church in Abu Dhabi became the See of the bishop.
Since 1916, the Vicariate was entrusted to the Capuchins of the Tuscan Province in Florence, Italy. They provided the majority of the priests as long as they had vocations. However, after the discovery of oil, the number of Catholics grew so fast that many priests from other Capuchin provinces, especially in Asia and the Middle East, were asked to send missionaries. There are also Diocesan Priests and those belonging to the Carmelite Order, the Salesian Congregation and to different Rites.
From a historical point of view, Kuwait was formerly part of the Vicariate of Arabia. In 1953 Kuwait was separated from it and established as an independent Apostolic Prefecture. It was raised to the status of an Apostolic Vicariate in 1954. Kuwait was notably the first member of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to develop diplomatic ties with the Holy See (Vatican City State). Official diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Kuwait were formalized on 21 October 1968. On 7 January 2021, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Eugene Martin Nugent as Apostolic Nuncio to Kuwait and Qatar.
On 31st May 2011, with a decree by the Congregation of the Evangelisation of Peoples, the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia was divided into two: the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, with the residence of the Bishop in Awali, Bahrain) and Southern Arabia (the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen, with the seat of the Bishop in Abu Dhabi).
The fIrst Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia was Camillo Ballin, MCCJ, a Combonian Bishop of the Latin Rite. He served the Vicariate from 2011 - 2020, after which His Excellency Bishop Paul Hinder was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of AVONA by Pope Francis.
Both the Vicariates have been placed under the protection of Our Lady of Arabia. On January 16, 2011, in Kuwait, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, proclaimed Our Lady of Arabia Patroness of both Vicariates and of the entire Arabian Peninsula.
Pius XII in veneration of the statue of Our Lady of Arabia - the Vatican, December 17, 1949
For more information on the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, visit the AVONA website.
