The Catholic Church is now in negotiations to open a church in Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where churches are not allowed.
An estimated 150,000 Christians live amongst the Muslim population of 750,000 in Qatar. The Christians are almost all foreigners from around 70 countries but the majority are from the Philippines, India, and Nigeria.
In addition to the Vatican, there was pressure from Washington to convince the Qatar emir that opening a church would promote the international image of the country.