A Briefing on the Pastoral Visit of the Major Archbishop Mar Raphael Thattil in the Southern Vicariate from 25 November to 1 December 2024.
The Arabian Peninsula has two Apostolic Vicariates for all the Catholic faithful of different sui iuris Churches. The Vicariate of Southern Arabia includes Oman, Yemen, and the 7 countries of UAE, such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Qaiwain, Fujairah Ajman, and Ras Al Khaimah where the Governments have allowed the Christian faithful a certain freedom to practice their faith. On the other hand, countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are part of the Vicariate of Northern Arabia, where restrictions exist for practising the faith in some places.
The six Eastern Catholic Patriarchal Churches are Coptic, Maronite, Melkite, Syrian, Chaldean, and Armenian, and on 6 August 2020, with a Rescript of Pope Francis, extended jurisdiction over the Arabian Peninsula for all these Churches. On 13 May 2024, during the first visit of the Major Archbishop to Pope Francis, the Pope declared orally jurisdictional rights for the Syro-Malabar Church over its faithful in the Gulf region even though the modus operandi is yet to be declared by the Holy See.
The Syro-Malabar Church has a powerful presence in the Southern Vicariate. The Major Archbishop visited three communities of Oman on the 25th and 26th of November in Muscat and Salalah, and from the 27 November to the 1 December, the three countries in the UAE such as Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai. The program included celebrations of Holy Qurbana, ecumenical meetings, and meetings with priests serving the communities, pastoral groups, church officials and councils, catechism teachers, and associations like the Syro-Malabar Cultural Association and the Global Catholic Congress. Every celebration was very well attended by the priests and faithful.
In Abu Dhabi, meaningful interaction and exchange of thoughts with the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Arab Emirates, His Excellency Most Rev. Christophe Zakhia El-Kassis, added beauty to the visit. Later in Dubai, the Nuncio concelebrated the Holy Qurbana and greeted the communtiy imparting the Apostolic blessings of the Holy Father.
In all the places, at the beginning of the concelebrated Holy Qurbana, the Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Paolo Martinelli, welcomed the Major Archbishop wholeheartedly with fraternal affection and vivacity, expressing unity and communion of the Churches. In his words of welcome, he thanked the Syro-Malabar Communities and lay persons for their active participation in the ecclesial life and the liturgical celebrations. He emphatically said that the Syro-Malabar community is not considered a language group but an ecclesia sui iuris. Being an apostolic Church originated by the preaching of the Apostle Thomas, preserving and practising its rites and traditions is the responsibility of the Catholic Church. At the same time, because of the presence of several sui iuris Church and language groups, it might not be possible to satisfy all the needs and requests. However, efforts are being made to respect and accommodate all according to the availability of space, time, and personnel.
The fraternal accompaniment of Bishop Paolo Martinelli with his curia members, priests, and other collaborators throughout the visit is immensely valued by the Syro-Malabar Church. Bishop Paolo, being a member of the Archdiocese of Milan, Italy, who follows the Ambrosian rite, has his deep knowledge and admiration for the patrimony of the Oriental rites and promised his wholehearted support for the future endeavours of the Syro-Malabar Church in the Gulf Region.
The Major Archbishop, addressing the faithful, emphasized the need to preserve the ecclesial identity of the Church and exhorted everyone to be witnesses of Christ throughout their lives wherever they live. He thanked the local Church for sharing the space and personnel for different sui iuris churches and requested the same in the future. He exhorted the faithful to keep the vision and mission of structuring a new ecclesiastical system in the Gulf Region, which is their place of migration or expatriation.
About 500,000 faithful, spread all over the Gulf Region, are generally pastured by Capuchin Fathers belonging to different provinces along with a few others. In the global scenario of the Syro-Malabar Church, the Gulf region carries the most significant number of Catechism students, with thousands of students and teachers involved in attending and teaching Catechism every week despite the factors of lack of space, permissions, and other complexities. In the whole Gulf Region, the highest number of the Syro-Malabar faithful gathered was in Dubai, and all the seven emirates of UAE are very close to each other with a significant number of faithful in each place.
The whole Gulf region has a multicultural, linguistic, and religious environment where the Syro-Malabar faithful have, with their genuine efforts, tried to keep up their faith and traditions keeping their rite intact. The historic visit of the Major Archbishop in both vicariates has undoubtedly strengthened the ties among the Churches and communities in the Arabian Peninsula and will be instrumental for a smooth transition of the jurisdictional rights to the Syro-Malabar Church in the Gulf Region.
