Catholic Church in the United Arab Emirates

In 2020 there were nearly 850,000 expatriates in the UAE who are Catholics, representing almost 9% of the total population,[1] largely from the Philippines, India, South America, Lebanon, Africa, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Portugal, Spain, France and other parts of Europe, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

On 6 December 2018, it was confirmed that the pope would visit the UAE to participate in the International Interfaith Meeting on "Human Fraternity" in Abu Dhabi.

On 3 February 2019, Pope Francis landed in Abu Dhabi[3] and was greeted by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and then Ahmad al-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar University, which serves as the lead source for Sunni Islam education and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders.

[3] On 4 February, the Pope attended the Interfaith Meeting,[4] during which he and Al-Tayyeb signed “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together".

On 5 February 2019, Pope Francis concluded his trip after giving a mass in front of a large crowd, estimated at 135,000, at Zayed Sports City.