The Catholic Church in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. There are over 140,000 Catholics in the country – representing about 6% of the population. There are no

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

s in the country, but Kuwait falls under the

Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia The Apostolic Vicariate (or Vicariate Apostolic) of Northern Arabia ( la, Vicariatus Apostolicus Arabiæ Septentrionalis Arabic: النيابة الرسولية العربية الشمالية) is a Catholic apostolic vicariate (exempt pre-dioces ...

. The superior was the Italian bishop

Camillo Ballin Camillo Ballin (June 24, 1944 – April 12, 2020) was an Italian-Bahraini Catholic bishop, writer, missionary, and educator who was the Vicar Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia. Family and early life Camillo Ballin, son of L ...

until his death on April 12, 2020. There is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

dedicated to the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the fir ...

. However, this church is now a co-cathedral with the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

. The other parishes are St. Thérèse Parish, Salmiya, Our Lady of Arabia Parish, Ahmadi and St. Daniel Comboni Parish, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. In 2002, the

Salesian , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...

religious order started an English language school in the country. There are also some churches belonging to the

Eastern Catholic Church The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

: the Syro-Malankara Catholic Community,

Syro-Malabar lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

Holy Family Cathedral Parish, and the Patriarchal Vicariate of Kuwait which belongs to the

Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch The Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch is the only actual residential Patriarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Eastern Catholic, Byzantine Rite). It was formed in 1724 when a portion of the Orthodox Church of Antioch went into com ...

References

External links

Statistics relating to the Catholic Church in KuwaitHomepage of the Catholic Church in KuwaitPhoto of the cathedral
{{Asia topic, Christianity in

Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia Catholic Church in the Arabian Peninsula