(by Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia)

There are over one million Catholics in the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia

Christianity in Arabia is a very ancient reality. The current reality is very different from the past. Throughout the Arabian Peninsula there are almost three million Catholics, although having the exact number, especially after the pandemic, is very difficult. From an ecclesial point of view, since 2011 the region has been divided into two apostolic vicariates: the north (Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain) and the south (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen). In this short presentation I will focus on the Apostolic Vicariate of the South, where over one million Catholic faithful live. The seat of the vicariate is Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Christians are all migrants, with a few very rare exceptions. Most of them come from the Philippines and India. There is no shortage of Christians from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other Asian countries as well. The presence of Arab Christians, mostly coming from Lebanon, is also significant. A significant number of Christians come from Africa. Minor but no less significant is the presence of European and American Christians. Seventy-five priests work in the vicariate, of which 50 are Capuchin friars. There are also 50 nuns from different religious orders involved in schools and parishes.

Most Christians are found in the United Arab Emirates, an Islamic nation with a long tradition of hospitality and tolerance towards people belonging to different religions, guaranteeing them freedom of worship. The Catholic Church has nine parishes in the Emirates. The relationship with the government of the Emirates is growing, especially since the visit of Pope Francis in February 2019, during which he signed the Abu Dhabi Declaration together with the Grand Imam of Al-Ahzar, Ahmed el-Tayeb. The Apostolic Nuncio resides in Abu Dhabi.

Furthermore, the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Common Coexistence, signed in Abu Dhabi, has given rise to interesting projects regarding interreligious dialogue. One of these was the inauguration last February of the Abrahamic Family House, whose foundation stone was also signed by Pope Francis. It is a complex that includes a mosque, a synagogue and a Catholic church, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi in honor of Pope Francis. This is in no way an attempt to merge the three religions which refer, albeit in different ways, to Abraham. Rather, it is a matter of recognizing and welcoming the difference between religions, aware of the decisive role they have in the peace processes and the promotion of the common good.

Our faithful are generally frequent visitors to our churches. It is a surprise for a Westerner to participate in a Eucharistic celebration and notice how our churches, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, are frequented by the faithful, to the point of not finding place inside the sacred buildings. In addition to celebrations, the life of the Church is expressed in family pastoral care and in catechetical training which is offered not only for Christian initiation, but also for teenagers and young people. The immense work, especially for the preparation for first communion and confirmation, is guaranteed by the generous and free commitment of many faithful catechists, following the training courses that are regularly offered by the vicariate.

It is always thanks to the great availability of the faithful that our churches can have choirs for liturgical animation. The good celebration is also guaranteed by the numerous volunteers who are committed to maintaining order during the celebrations, by the readers, the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist and the young ministers of the altar (altar boys). It is edifying to see how many faithful tirelessly commit themselves to the various ministries and services for the life of the Church.

In addition to catechesis, our parishes organize significant moments of conviviality and celebration on the occasion of the various patronal celebrations and of their countries of origin.

Furthermore, the life of our Church is favored by the presence of numerous linguistic communities which help the faithful to feel at home, especially in the early stages after arrival, and ensure their integration into society and the Church. The task of the linguistic communities is to introduce the faithful to the entire parish reality. We consider this one of the truly unique points of our Church. It is made up entirely of migrants. They all come from abroad and are here for work. The Church safeguards their identity and supports the growth of faith. But it is truly a sight to see a Church of faithful who not only maintains its own traditions, but also shares them with others. Everyone can discover the richness of other rites and other liturgical traditions. Of course this isn’t always easy. Sometimes there is the desire to redo on site exactly what was done in one’s land of origin. But part of being a migrant is accepting to walk together with other believers and sharing one’s spiritual riches.

Another richness is given by the presence of various movements, associations and ecclesial groups. Many of these realities are linked to their countries of origin; other realities have an international character and help all the faithful to feel part of a single Church. These are realities characterized by specific charisms, linked to prayer, spiritual animation and the believing reading of the Word of God.

Another important experience of the apostolic vicariate is the promotion of Catholic schools. At the moment there are ten schools in the United Arab Emirates, managed directly by the apostolic vicariate or by some religious orders. These are realities that are strongly appreciated not only by our faithful, but also by people belonging to other religions, in particular by Muslims, who attend them profitably. They are an extraordinary opportunity to spread values dear to the Christian community and promote dialogue between people of different cultures and religions.

In Oman, in many respects the situation of Christians is similar to that of the Emirates. There are four parishes. Diplomatic relations with the Holy See have been established a few months ago and the recent appointment of the apostolic nuncio, resident in Cairo, gives us hope for the future of the Church.

A completely different situation is that of Christians in Yemen, tormented by over eight years of civil war. The current improvement in relations between the parties involved does not yet allow for a stable recovery. The remaining Christians are tenacious, they are a sign of hope. Currently there are two communities of the Missionaries of Charity of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta and a priest belonging to the male branch of the same congregation. The nuns remained to serve the poor and the sick despite the fact that 25 years ago three sisters were killed. Furthermore, on March 4, 2016, at the beginning of the civil war, four of them were barbarically murdered together with some lay collaborators by an extremist group hating the faith.

Pope Francis recently remembered them with these words: “They are the martyrs of our time. Among these killed lay people, in addition to Christians, there were Muslim faithful who worked with the nuns. We are moved to see how the testimony of blood can unite people of different religions. One must never kill in the name of God, because for Him we are all brothers and sisters. But together we can give our lives for others.” (General Audience 19 April 2023)

Here is a synthetic image of Christians in Arabia, a community marked by martyrdom in the past (Saint Arethas) as in the present: a Church called to be a witness to the world of the joy of the Gospel and to work for the good life of all.

*English translation of an article that appeared in L’Osservatore Romano on August 30, 2023. The original article in Italian can be found here.

In the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia
(by Bishop Aldo Berardi, Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia)

The presence and testimony of Christians in the Arabian Peninsula is an interesting topic that deserves serious attention. From the perspective of external observers, and in particular the Western Church, it is often assumed that the region throughout its history has been aligned with Islam or associated with paganism. Other Christian confessions even today see it as a land to be evangelized, as if it had not been touched by the Gospel at all. Such a short-sighted view sometimes inflames religious tensions and sectarian violence, as most people in the region are naturally protective of their current faith.

Certainly, there is a pilgrim and migrant Church in today’s Arabian Peninsula, since the approximately three million Catholics under the pastoral care of the two apostolic vicariates of the Gulf are made up of migrant workers from many countries, mainly from South Asia. These workers bring with them their distinct traditions, cultures and religious diversity which they seek to maintain in a completely new environment. Sometimes their religious fervor clashes with the practices of their new Muslim neighbors. The Holy See, therefore, has always been attentive to the pastoral needs of the Catholic faithful, maintaining two ecclesiastical territories led by two bishops. This genuine concern for the well-being of Catholics in the Gulf is also clearly demonstrated by the two recent apostolic visits of Pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates (2019) and Bahrain (2022).

But the question is: is Christianity in the Arabian Peninsula a modern phenomenon brought only by expatriate communities in recent decades? History attests to the contrary. For one, a small number of Christians whose ancestry can date back far into history are still present in Bahrain. They are a valuable part of the nation-kingdom’s rich heritage and actively contribute to national life today. Secondly, recent archaeological discoveries in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have unveiled what were once vibrant Christian communities in the region.

A very interesting case is the story of the Christian Arabs of Najran (of the ancient Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen, now in present-day Saudi Arabia) who were martyred in the 6th century (year 523) for their deep faith in the divinity of Christ. The Catholic Church, along with several Christian denominations and traditions, venerates them as Saint Arethas and Companions and celebrates their feast every October 24th. Their martyrdom was quickly commemorated in the liturgies of many churches and monasteries during the Byzantine period. Although bitter theological disputes over the nature of Christ were dividing Christians, the veneration of these martyrs quickly became common throughout the known Christian world, regardless of one’s Christological belief or confession. The Orthodox Church considers Saint Arethas as a megalomartyr, evidence of the widespread devotion to the saint throughout the Byzantine Church. The Roman Martyrology kept the commemorative feast on October 24th.

Perhaps to put it another way, while St. Benedict of Nursia was quietly preparing the map of Western monasticism in an Italian monastery in the 6th century and St. Columba was traversing pagan Europe, around the same time, St. Arethas and his people gave their lives for Christ in an obscure oasis in southern Arabia. This only goes to show that, just as Christian philosophy in the West advanced during the Patristic era, Christianity also flourished in the East, specifically the Arabian Peninsula!

The Extraordinary Jubilee which marks the 1500th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Arethas and Companions (523-2023) represents an authentic opportunity for the Church in the Arabian Peninsula to re-examine its attitude and its mission in the region (www.avona.org). It would be timely to give due interest to the East in its Christian traditions and in its influence written in languages other than Latin or Greek, such as Syriac and Ge’ez. In these ancient writings, we are enlightened about the spiritual lineage of the Church in the East today.

More importantly, the Arabian Peninsula should rightly be seen as a spiritual home for millions of expatriate Christians living in the region today. Even though almost all will eventually take the road to return to their home countries, the region is still their spiritual home, a land that welcomed them and animated their faith. Christians in the Gulf today only continue the long history of Christian witness begun by their ancestors in faith, such as Saint Arethas.

The real challenge for every Christian in the Arabian Peninsula remains the same today as it was 1,500 years ago: how to be a disciple of Christ in a land of conflicting religions, tense political atmospheres and dominant economic interests? Saint Arethas and his Companions were martyred with bloodshed; Christians today are challenged by what Pope Francis calls “everyday martyrdom”: giving one’s life, having the spirit of martyrdom, means offering it in silence, in prayer, in the honest fulfillment of one’s duty: in this silence of daily life, giving life little by little. (Angelus of 23 June 2013)

Inspired by the Arab martyrs, Christians in the Arabian Peninsula today are called to constantly live their faith in a way that glorifies God. They are called to be a “daily martyr,” one who constantly bears living witness to Christ and his message in the little things of daily life. Even if we often cannot speak or testify openly about our faith, everyday life must be evangelized to account for the faith and to pass on the richness of our spiritual tradition to our children.

Catholic plurality is also our strength and richness: different rites, languages and spiritual traditions meet and unite. It is not the fact of maintaining a “museum ritual” but a living, strong ritual that is enriched with spiritual history and which can be shared and transmitted.

The challenge of unity makes us attentive to what is important and to the foundations of our faith. We are one in the Risen Lord for the glory of the Father in the Holy Spirit. The diversity of the members (1 Corinthians 12) reinforces the joy of being the Catholic Church in a land of contrasts and plurality.

The challenge of interreligious dialogue pushes us to be authentic and coherent, but also firm in the truth that is Christ. This dialogue is important to make us know and respect the different religions in the Peninsula. We want to be disciples of Christ and bearers of peace and justice.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia is made up of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait – where the apostolic nuncio resides – and Saudi Arabia. Four very different realities that push us to enter into dialogue and learn more about local history and the political and social situations. May we as Christians be a sign of the times and partners for the good of all and human development.

It is also true that the dialogue with local authorities is very different according to native traditions: freedom of worship is granted, sometimes with difficulty and pressures, or religious and cultural impediments. Catholics must adapt with faith and creativity. Our churches are certainly not enough, but we are confident in the presence of the Lord in the fruitful deserts of the Peninsula. We know that we are the Church, “as living stones for the construction of a spiritual building, for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter, 2, 5)

We have Christian ancestors who set an example for us. It is up to us to be witnesses of the Risen One.

*English translation of an article that appeared in L’Osservatore Romano on August 30, 2023. The original article in Italian can be found here.

L’Osservatore Romano

(by Roberto Cetera)

To anyone who attends a course on the history of religions it is almost always represented, hastily and superficially, that the situation of the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam was socially characterized by tribalism and, from a religious point of view, from a widespread paganism made up of devotion to family deities and esoteric practices.

The reality is in fact very different and the recent revival of research and studies on Arabia before the appearance of Muhammad largely confirms it. If on the social level there were, in the centuries preceding the prophet, important kingdoms reunifying the tribal realities (the Nabataeans, the Palmyrenes, the Ghassanids, and the Lakhmids), on the religious level, much documentation also attests to the presence of dynamic communities and traces of Christian pilgrims to Christian places of worship, which find their greatest expression in the iconic figure of Saint Arethas.

A more complex reality therefore appears than the initial observation, which generally favors the vision of a cultural and social stasis to the detriment of an existing ordered social structure, even if in embryo. And the Arabic language was the element that unified the nomadic populations of the peninsula in the third century; although the term “Arabic” can be found in other languages as early as nine centuries before Christ, it is only at the end of the second century AD that the inhabitants begun to define themselves as Arabs. The first written traces of the Arabic language date back even later to the sixth century, although considered a variation of Aramaic.

In 2021, an interesting book by J. Sarmiento entitled Unforgotten Martyrs of Arabia provided an exhaustive historical reconstruction of the Christian presence in Arabia in pre-Islamic times, also constituting a prestigious source for current Christian communities, today existing under the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, governed by the French Bishop Aldo Berardi and the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, governed by the Italian Bishop Paolo Martinelli. A subdivision which, as we will see, is still today the result of the demarcations that arose in the first Christian penetration into Arabia.

The scenario within which the story of the Christian communities before Muhammad takes place is mainly that of Southern Arabia, which the Romans called Arabia Felix, due to its fertility, a region that today includes the southern part of Saudi Arabia and much of Yemen. It is also a portion of the territory which in the biblical story belonged to the legendary Queen of Sheba. The northernmost part of this region, almost on the border with the northern civilizations, is a group of oases, the last outpost before the desert, the largest of which took the name of Najran, an obligatory stop for caravans headed towards the Mediterranean along the famous Incense Road, mentioned by Ezekiel in the Bible.

Najran was the cradle of Christianity in Arabia, and probably in the 4th century it was introduced into those lands by the Syriac and Monophysite Churches and by the Ethiopian Christians. More or less in the same period the ruling tribe in Himyar, therefore in all the south region of the Peninsula, was converted to Judaism. In short, a situation far from that “confused paganism” which is often superficially evoked in reference to pre-Mohammedan Arab religiosity.

If in Najran and throughout the coastal strip of the Red Sea Christianity expanded under the protection of the Byzantine Church, in the opposite area, which overlooks the Gulf, the Nestorian Church prevailed, declared heretical after the Council of Ephesus and subsequently protected by Persians. To this second group of people belonged the great master of eastern spirituality and monastic asceticism, Isaac of Nineveh, who resigned as bishop after coming into conflict with the Nestorians.

According to tradition, Arethas (original name Al Harith ibn K’ab) was born in Najran in 427. He was considered a sort of governor of the city-state of Najran, and even more, a mukarrib, that is a priest- king, a cleric who was also responsible for the power of civil government. According to some sources, he was responsible for introducing Christianity to Najran and then to the south of the peninsula. A Christianity of Syriac origin and therefore Monophysite (the heresy confuted and abandoned in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 which denied the dual nature of Christ, for which the Messiah’s humanity and divinity are the same reality). A later Christianity supported above all by Byzantine Church had engaged in a harsh and even violent confrontation with Jewish communities of the diaspora.

This religious competition also ended up affecting Najran. The protagonist will be King Dhu Nuwas, a convert to Judaism who rose to the throne of the Himyarites around 490 AD and will go down in history for having put to death many Christians throughout the peninsula. Around 520 AD, Dhu Nawas will attack the Christian people of Najran, who were led by the charismatic elder Arethas.

A Greek text from the 7th century entitled Martyrium S. Arethae recounts in great detail the siege first and then the extermination that Dhu Nawas made of the approximately six hundred Christians of the city, including women, deacons, elders and children, after a fraudulent promise of truce. Arethas himself, leader of the community, will suffer the torture of decapitation at the age of 95, after the declamation of a joyful religious and political challenge against Dhu Nawas, reported in detail by a Passio written in the Byzantine liturgy. It was October 24, 523 AD. The Churches of Arabia therefore celebrate this year (2023-2024) the Jubilee of the 1,500 years of martyrdom of St. Arethas.

Following the massacre, a few years later king-negus Elesbaan (today venerated by the Oriental Churches with the name of Saint Caleb) was requested by the patriarch of Alexandria Timothy I and by the Byzantine emperor Justin to regain the territories of Najran and to avenge the Christian martyrs. It was a great task that the Ethiopian king promptly carried out at the head of a powerful army that defeated Dhu Nawas, forcing him, according to the chronicles of the Acta S. Arethae, to surrender and to commit suicide.

After suffering martyrdom, Najran therefore became the center of pre-Islamic Arab Christianity and a destination for pilgrimages from all over the Middle East. The pilgrims came to honor the martyrs to whom a large sanctuary with a cubic shape had been dedicated, the Martyrium (Ka’ba in Arabic). Eighty years later, with the advent of Islam, things changed again. It seems that the prophet Muhammad was initially quite tolerant towards the Christian community of Najran and, according to some reconstructions, he even met their representatives around 630 AD, assuring them of a regime of tolerance. But after the death of Muhammad, with the rise of Caliph Omar, this regime was set aside, and the Christians had to leave the city, some taking refuge in Syria, some in Iraq. With their banishment the city also disappeared forever, today with only a few ruins remaining. But with the city of Najran, the memory of the martyrs has not disappeared, kept alive by the new wave of Christians present there today.

In the box
Martyrs of Najran
In an ancient city in the desert, 1,500 years ago, 600 Christians led by Saint Arethas were massacred, who were responsible for the introduction of Christianity into the south of the Arabian Peninsula before the appearance of Muhammad.

*English translation of an article that appeared in L’Osservatore Romano on August 30, 2023. The original article in Italian can be found here.