Historic Vatican-Saudi Talks Explore Opening Church in Saudi Arabia

Yesterday's London Times reported that the Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabian authorities discussing the possibility of opening the first Roman Catholic church in Saudi Arabia. This became known the day after Qatar's first Catholic Church opened with an inaugural service attended by 15,000. The revolutionary step in Saudi-Catholic relations follows talks last year between King Abdullah and the Pope and the creation of a permanent Catholic-Muslim forum on interreligiouis relations after the Pope's controversial remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in 2006. (See prior posting.)