DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HOLY SEE AND QATAR

VATICAN CITY, NOV 18, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy See and the State of Qatar, eager to develop relations of mutual friendship and to promote international cooperation, have decided to establish diplomatic relations at the level of apostolic nunciature on behalf of the Holy See and embassy on behalf of Qatar, according to what was established at the Convention of Vienna, Austria on diplomatic relations on April 18, 1961.

Qatar has an area of 11,437 square kilometers and its capital is Doha. The population is made up of Bedouin Arabs, although the majority of its almost 800,000 inhabitants are immigrant workers from neighboring Arab states and Iran, Pakistan, India, and the Philippines.

The official religion is Islam. Many immigrant workers are Christians, and of these 45,000 are Catholics who come from different nations, mostly from the Philippines, India and other countries on the Indian subcontinent.

Qatar is part of the apostolic vicariate of Arabia, entrusted to Bishop Giovanni Bernard Gremoli, O.F.M.Cap., who resides in Abu Dhabi, a shiekdom and the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The only existing parish at the moment is in the charge of four priests, two diocesan priests and two Capuchins.

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