Co-catedral de la Sagrada Familia — Kuwait City, Kuwait

🌹 Wonders and anecdotes

• Land owned by the emirato - The Amir of Kuwait gave free of charge the site on which the cathedral was built, a unique gesture in the Persian Gulf that made it possible to lift the first great permanent Catholic temple of the country and which continues to be remembered as proof of coexistence between the Kuwaiti State and the Christian community.
• Emilio Tenca y la ‘Sagrada Familia en el Desierto’ — El arquitecto milanés Emilio Tenca proyectó un edificio de estilo moderno sobrio, con exteriores de piedra arenisca cálida y un interior espacioso de techos altos; monseñor Stella escogió el título ‘Sagrada Familia en el Desierto’ para evocar la condición de los católicos de Kuwait —residentes transitorios, como la Sagrada Familia en su huida a Egipto—, y así quedó inscrito en la dedicación del templo.
• First stone in 1957, consecration in 1961 - On 27 January 1957 the first stone was blessed; the construction lasted four years and the temple was consecrated on 16 March 1961. Since then, it has been expanded in 1997 with new parish rooms to host a community that today exceeds 50,000 people of multiple nationalities.
• Statue of Our Lady of Arabia - Inside the co-cathedral a smaller replica of the image of Our Lady of Arabia, the famous cedar statue carved in 1949 for the church of Ahmadi (Kuwait) and now patron of the Gulf vicariates, is to be venerated; its presence in Kuwait City links the Marian devotion of the Gulf to its oldest temple.
• Co-cathedral since 2021 - With the consecration of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia in Awali (Baréin), which became the main seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of North Arabia, the Church of Kuwait became a co-cathedral; thus it shares the episcopal dignity without losing its status as the country's largest and oldest church.