The Catholic Church in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 2020, Christians made up 17.93% of the population. Of these, 80% were Catholic, or approximately 560,000 people.

Overview

There are no

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

s in the country, but Kuwait falls under the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia. The superior was the Italian bishop Camillo Ballin until his death on April 12, 2020. There is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Kuwait City Kuwait City (; ) 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 economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...

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,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

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

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. The apostolic vicariate is led by a vicar apostolic, who is usually a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

. While such a territory can be classed as a particular Church, according to canon 371.1 of the Latin Code of Canon Law, a vicar apostolic's jurisdiction is an exercise of the jurisdiction of the Pope – the territory comes directly under the Pope as "universal bishop", and the vicariate come directly under the jurisdiction of the

Diocese of Rome The Diocese of Rome (; ), also called the Vicariate of Rome, is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church under the direct jurisdiction of the pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. As ...

, where the pope exercises this authority through a "vicar". This is unlike a diocesan bishop's jurisdiction, which is derived directly from his office. 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 The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...

religious order started an English language school in the country. There are also some churches belonging to the Eastern Catholic Church: the Syro-Malankara Catholic Community, Syro-Malabar Holy Family Cathedral Parish, and the Patriarchal Vicariate of Kuwait which belongs to the

Melkite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch (), also known as the Melkite Catholic Church, and legally as the Rūm Greek Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (), is an autocephalous Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Church i ...

. In 2020, there were 21 priests and 11 nuns working across four parishes.Catholics And Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08
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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

Overview

See also

References

External links