DOHA: Thousands of worshippers gathered in a long and emotional ceremony Saturday for the consecration of the first Roman Catholic Church in the Gulf state of Qatar, ending decades of underground Christian worship in this Sunni Muslim and deeply conservative country. A Cardinal presented the parish with a chalice offered by the Pope during the five-hour mass, and many worshippers wept when a relic of Catholic Saint Padre Pio da Pietrelcina was introduced in the church. The 2,700-seat church was built on land donated by Qatar's Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and five other buildings are under construction nearby for other Christian denominations in this oil-rich state where over 70 percent of the population are expatriate workers. "I convey very special greetings from the Holy Father to the Emir, said Cardinal Ivan Dias, the envoy of Pope Benedict XVI and the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. "Without his precious gift of a land to the Catholic community, we would not be here today, Dias said. Qatar follows the rigorous Wahabi teachings of Sunni Islam, and like neighboring Saudi Arabia had not previously authorized Christians to practice their faith openly. A priest operated in Qatar since the 1960s without official approval, and the opening of the church Saturday appeared to be another sign of Qatar s efforts to open up to the West as it seeks a bid for the summer Olympic Games in 2016. "It is a dream coming true, said Bishop Bernardo Gremoli, a former vicar of Arabia who initiated the church project more than 20 years ago. Some 150,000 Christians of all denominations live in the emirate, over 90 percent of them Catholic expatriate workers from the Philippines, India and other Asian nations. "It is a wonderful day for us, we have been waiting for many, many years to have a proper place of worship, said Indian resident Robert Rodriguez, one of about 10,000 people who gathered for the ceremony according to church estimates. Some 3,000 worshippers were packed inside the new domed building, which does not expose religious symbols such as a cross or a bell tower out of respect for the local sensitivities. The rest of the crowd stood outside the US15 million church, which in place of a steeple features a traditional "wind tower - a large, ornate chimney that traps fresh breeze as a means to cool down traditional houses in the Gulf. Three dozen bishops and priests had gathered to celebrate the mass, which was conducted in English with prayers in the Tagalog language from the Philippines, Hindi, Arabic and other languages. "This is a historic day for the Christian community, said Filipino Imelda Ilotin. "It signifies that people can live together in peace and diversity if they are guided by illuminated rulers, she said. Designed and painted by Italian artists, including sacred art painter Valentino Vago, the church was described by Apostolic Nuncio Munjed Al Hachem as the most beautiful of the modern churches in the Middle East. Gremoli, the bishop who carried the relic of Padre Pio to Qatar, said it was the first ever holy relic to be sent from Rome to a church of the Arabian Peninsula. He did not specify what the relic of the nineteenth century Italian Catholic saint was. -AP
