‘Truly historic’: Kuwait’s first church elevated to Minor Basilica
By Joseph Tulloch
In the year 1948, a small group of Catholics—foreigners who had recently arrived in Kuwait to work in the burgeoning oil industry—opened a small chapel in Al-Ahmadi, the country’s second city.
Just a few years later, a church took its place, and was decorated with an image of the Virgin Mary blessed by the Pope himself.
As the oil industry took off, and ever greater numbers of foreign workers began to arrive in Kuwait, the church—dedicated, as the original chapel had been, to Our Lady of Arabia—continued to grow in importance.
A ‘truly historic’ day
On Friday, January 16, the Holy See Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, presided at Mass to celebrate the elevation of the church to the status of Minor Basilica. The title is conferred on churches that hold special liturgical or pastoral importance, and that stand out for their historical, spiritual, or architectural value.
In his homily, delivered to a congregation including local Catholics, politicians, diplomats, and representatives of the Kuwaiti Oil Company, Cardinal Parolin described the occasion as “truly historic,” not only “for the Church in Kuwait, but for the Church throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula.”
“Built upon the sands of the desert,” the Cardinal said, “this Basilica reminds us that Mary herself once found refuge in those same desert lands, where she cared for, raised, and safeguarded the one Mediator between God and the human family, Jesus Christ.”
True God and true man
Cardinal Parolin then reflected on the day’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus asks His disciples the “decisive question”: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
Reflecting back on the recently-concluded Christmas period, the Cardinal stressed that “we cannot welcome the Child Jesus into our homes… unless we recognize His true identity and all that it implies.”
Christians, he emphasized, “are called to recognize and bear witness that Jesus Christ is true God and true man.”
Mary of Arabia
Christians now make up some 20% of Kuwait’s population, although almost all are migrant workers without Kuwaiti citizenship.
The situation is similar in many other oil-rich Gulf countries, including Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar. Of these countries, Kuwait and Bahrain are unique in also having a small number of Christian citizens, almost all of them descendants of immigrants from Arab countries, such as Lebanon and Palestine, with sizeable Christian populations.
Bringing his homily to a close, Cardinal Parolin asked for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, “Our Lady of Arabia, Patroness of the entire Peninsula that bears her name.”
May she “guide us always to her Son,” the Cardinal prayed. “To her I entrust the protection of the State of Kuwait, its citizens, and all Christians.”
Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here
