US embassy cable - 05DOHA910

UNCLAS DOHA 000910 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI: STHORNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, QA 
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT OF QATAR AGREES TO LEASE PROPERTY FOR 
CONSTRUCTION OF CHURCHES 
 
1. On 10 May, representatives of Christian churches in Qatar 
signed an agreement at the Foreign Ministry for a 50-year 
lease on a large piece of property in Doha on which they 
will erect six churches at their own expense. The churches 
will pay nominal leases of only a few hundred dollars a 
year, renewable after 10 years. The property contains one- 
half million square meters and is located on the southern 
outskirts of town. 
 
2. The Emir long ago announced his support for this 
development. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the only countries 
in the Gulf that have no church buildings. (Qatar allows 
Christian worship, but KSA does not.) 
 
3. The central part of the land will be occupied by a 
"Catholic community center" that can seat some 2000. Italian 
decorator Renato Casiraghi, advocate for the local Catholic 
community, says that Catholics form the greatest portion of 
Christians in Qatar, chiefly poor expatriate workers from 
the Philippines and South India. The Catholic community 
already has funds in hand to build its church and hopes to 
have it finished in 18 months. 
 
4. Occupying the four corners of the Christian cantonment 
will be: (1) An Anglican church that can also be used by 
other Protestant denominations; (2) a church to serve 34 
miscellaneous Indian Christian sects; (3) a church for 
Qatar's small but influential Coptic community; and (4) a 
site for two Orthodox churches, one Greek and one Eastern 
Rite. 
 
5. The churches cannot have any form of exterior Christian 
symbolism, such as crosses or crucifixes. (These may be on 
the interior, however.) Neither can any of the churches have 
bells. 
 
6. Public announcement of the signing is expected soon after 
the Emir returns from his current trip to South American and 
the U.S. (on or about May 20). 
 
UNTERMEYER