In November 2007, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited the Vatican in a historic moment, which signaled an end to the 1,400-year-old chill in relations between the Arab state and its predecessor states' leaders and Vatican leaders.

[2] There are many foreign workers that identify as Christian, and at present, they must cross a border to a surrounding country to find a church affiliated to the Roman Catholic church; this is due to a Saudi law that bans the worship of religions other than Islam.

In the 7th century, the idea of building a church in Saudi Arabia was proposed, but this was rejected.

With the exceptions of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medinah, Christians are allowed to enter all of Saudi Arabia.

This issue was given high priority in Pope Benedict XVI's address to the diplomatic corps in January 2011, where the Pope expressed the hope for a speedy establishment of a Catholic hierarchy within the kingdom.