The Our Lady of Divine Providence Chapel or Chapel of the Italian Embassy in Kabul, was a religious building that was affiliated with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and is located in Street Great Massoud, in the city of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, capital of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The chapel followed the Latin rite and depended on the Mission ''sui juris'' in Afghanistan (''Missio sui iuris Afghanistaniensis'') that was created by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 2002. The chapel was authorized in 1933 and had survived wars, upheavals and the time of the first

Taliban government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...

thanks to the protection provided by the

Italian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Italy, excluding honorary consulates. Italy has a large global network of diplomatic missions. It is the only country in the world to have an embassy on its own territory—the Italian embassy to the Holy S ...

. The parish was abandoned following the

2021 Taliban offensive A military offensive by the Taliban insurgent group and other allied militants led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based in Kabul and marked the end of the nearly 20-year-old War in Afghanistan, that had begun following the ...

. It was under the pastoral responsibility of Italian priest Father Giuseppe Moretti from 2003 to 2014, and Father Giovanni Scalese from 2014 to 2021. The current building has its origins in 1921 when Italy and Afghanistan established diplomatic relations. It was completed in 1960. Most Christian symbols were limited, with just a small cross having been allowed at the entrance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady, Church Roman Catholic churches in Afghanistan Religious buildings and structures in Kabul Roman Catholic churches completed in 1960 Roman Catholic chapels in Asia Embassy chapels 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings Afghanistan–Holy See relations Afghanistan–Italy relations Holy See–Italy relations 2021 disestablishments in Afghanistan Organizations disestablished in 2021

See also

References