Awali, Bahrain, Aug 14, 2012 / 00:56 am
The Catholic Church's Vicariate of Northern Arabia will move its headquarters from Kuwait to Bahrain, saying the country's location is more accessible for meetings.
Apostolic vicar Bishop Camillo Ballin expressed his "heartfelt gratitude" to King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and the ruling family for their "magnanimous gesture of goodwill to the Catholic community of Bahrain," the bishop's office said in an Aug. 9 statement.
The king and royal family have granted 9,000 square meters of land, which will be used to build a larger church in Awali and to host the vicariate's apostolic headquarters.
There are over two million Roman Catholics in the vicariate, which encompasses Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.