Building churches in Saudi Arabia has not discussed during the visit: Egypt's Catholic Church

During the Vatican delegation’s visit last month, controversial news spread on an agreement signed by Vatican and Saudi Arabia to build churches on its lands, Hani Bakhoum the spokesperson of the Catholic Church of Egypt, issued an official statement on Saturday to clarify that the visit did not include this issue.

“The Saudi press official statement that was released directly after the visit did not mention the topics that have been discussed during meeting including building churches in the Kingdom or not,” the statement said.

The statement of Catholic Church of Egypt points out that this clarification does not confirm or deny building churches in Saudi Arabia, but it intentionally unveils that this issue has not been announced by the official newspapers of the Vatican.

Bakhoum said that the Catholic Church in Egypt has followed with interest the historic visit of the Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran to Saudi Arabia which included the signing of a joint agreement that will be established comprising two representatives for both sides to organize future meetings. The committee is expected to be held once every two years and its meetings will be alternated between Rome and a city chosen by the Islamic World League.

The statement said that the official press of the Vatican “L’osservatore romano” has summarized the most important topics that were discussed during visit. It reports that the program of Tauran was full of meetings and important dates which mainly focused on the theme of interfaith and intercultural dialogue, while addressing the role that believers must play in order to renounce violence, terrorism and extremism and to reach wider range of security and stability in the Middle East and the world.

On the other side, the official Saudi Press Agency has covered the visit, highlighting also its main goal which was promoting stability in the region. The Vatican newspaper considered the event as a major step forward in the path of dialogue between Muslims and Catholics, especially given the important position of Saudi Arabia in Muslims life where the two Holy Mosques of Islam exist.