Oman

| UAE - INDIA

The Major Archbishop visiting communities in the region. After a first stop in the northern vicariate, the second in the south between Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Apostolic vicar Msgr. Martinelli: ‘Collaboration “virtue” of the Gulf Church’. Among the unresolved knots mentioned by the prelate is ‘jurisdiction in the Middle East, even if the modalities have not yet been defined’.

by Dario Salvi

The Vicar of Southern Arabia officiated at the inauguration of construction work on a new pastoral centre in Ghala. Msgr. Martinelli: 'For children, young people and adults to grow in the faith'. The sultanate's diplomatic work in a conflict-torn Middle East. There are still steps to be taken in the area of rights and gender equality.

| 09/07/2024
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST

This week, the prelate made his first pastoral visit to the Christian place of worship located in the Abrahamic Family House, which includes also a mosque and synagogue. Dialogue with people of different faiths "is not only desirable, but necessary." The local Christian community is “multi-ethnic and multicultural ever since its origin”. The prelate stressed that bearing witness to the faith "excludes any form of proselytism.”

| 22/06/2024
| UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The first World Children's Day is being celebrated over the weekend, at the initiative of the Holy Father. Bishop Martinelli met with a group of children, answering their questions, and inviting them to put "their joy, their enthusiasm" at the service of the Church. About a hundred young people met in Hong Kong to share experiences and expectations.

| 25/05/2024
| ASIA – VATICAN
by Dario Salvi

Bishop Aldo Berardi, head of the vicariate that includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, comments on Pope Francis' decision to grant the Syro-Malabar Church jurisdiction over Indian migrants. "This is not a secondary element, it concerns areas that go beyond rituals" and will have to be defined. The problem of places of worship, relations with the State and interlocution with the Muslim world. "Too many voices" can create "confusion".

| 16/05/2024
| GULF - VATICAN - INDIA

Today's news: Xinjiang authorities block demolition order in old city of Kashgar, heart of Uyghur culture; Schools reopen in Bangladesh despite exceptional heatwave; Thai foreign minister resigns, negotiations with Myanmar at risk; India and Oman aim to strengthen trade agreements.

| 29/04/2024
| ASIA TODAY

First pastoral letter by Bishop Martinelli, who urges the faithful not to be "slaves, but sons". The faith must be transmitted "no longer by convention, but with conviction" by communicating "the reasons why one believes". The call for an 'intercultural' path that allows the different Church realities present in the Gulf to interact, to get to know each other, and to train for cooperation.

| 06/03/2024
| UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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