BAHRAIN, Persian Gulf – Bahrain will donate a plot of land to build a new Catholic church in the country. The decision by King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa  comes in response to a request Pope Benedict XVI made to the Gulf State when its new ambassador presented its credentials last 18 December.

About 80 per cent of the 800,000 people living in the country are Muslim (60 per cent Sunni and 20 per cent Shia). Catholics represent about 10 per cent, mostly foreign workers from Asian nations.

Bahrain became the first country in the Persian Gulf to build a Catholic church, dedicated to the Sacred Heart and inaugurated with a Christmas Midnight Mass in 1939. The church will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year.