Roman Catholicism in Saudi Arabia
Encyclopedia
According to data from the Catholic Web portal
AsiaNews.it there are estimated to be more than 1 million Roman Catholics in Saudi Arabia
, most of them Filipino
& Indian
workers without citizenship.
Saudi Arabia allows Roman Catholics and Christians of other denominations
to enter the country as foreign workers for temporary work, but does not allow them to practise their faith openly, and as a result Roman Catholics and Christians of other denominations generally only worship in secret within private homes. Items and articles
belonging to religions other than Islam
are prohibited. These include Bible
s, crucifix
es, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols, and others, although the Government's stated policy was that such items were allowed for private religious purposes.
The Saudi Arabia
n Mutaween
(Arabic
: مطوعين), or Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
(i.e., the religious police) prohibits the practice of any religion other than Islam. Conversion of a Muslim
to another religion is considered apostasy
, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant
. The Government does not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the purpose of conducting religious services.
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
AsiaNews.it there are estimated to be more than 1 million Roman Catholics in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, most of them Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
& Indian
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
workers without citizenship.
Saudi Arabia allows Roman Catholics and Christians of other denominations
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
to enter the country as foreign workers for temporary work, but does not allow them to practise their faith openly, and as a result Roman Catholics and Christians of other denominations generally only worship in secret within private homes. Items and articles
Article (publishing)
An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...
belonging to religions other than Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
are prohibited. These include Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
s, crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
es, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols, and others, although the Government's stated policy was that such items were allowed for private religious purposes.
The Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
n Mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
(Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: مطوعين), or Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice or HAIA is the Saudi Arabian government bureaucracy employing "religious police" or mutaween to...
(i.e., the religious police) prohibits the practice of any religion other than Islam. Conversion of a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
to another religion is considered apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant
Recantation
The verb recant , and its derivative noun recantation, can mean:* To formally abandon a belief or a particular statement of belief, generally under order from an ecclesiastical authority to...
. The Government does not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for the purpose of conducting religious services.
See also
- Human rights in Saudi ArabiaHuman rights in Saudi ArabiaHuman rights in Saudi Arabia are intended to be based on Islamic religious laws under rule of the Saudi royal family. The government of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi legal system, has been criticized for its treatment of religious and political minorities, homosexuals, apostates, and women...
- Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia
- Christianity in Saudi ArabiaChristianity in Saudi ArabiaAccurate religious demographics are difficult to obtain in Saudi Arabia but 85 to 90% of citizens of Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims, who predominantly subscribe to the Government-sanctioned interpretation of Islam, while 10 to 15% of citizens are Shi'a Muslims....
- Capital punishment in Saudi ArabiaCapital punishment in Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia is one of the leading countries with use of the capital punishment and number of executions worldwide. In 2010, there were 26 reported executions in the country.-Methods and scope:...