A historical meeting is about to take place. Pope Benedict XVI will receive King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first meeting between a Saudi monarch and the Vatican.

This meeting follows a period throughout which Pope Benedict has constantly criticized
Saudi Arabia’s lack of religious freedom. In the Arab Kingdom any form of religious expression that is non-Muslim is strictly prohibited.

The people who suffer because these measures are the foreign workers, most of them form Asia. There were reported many arrests of individuals who offended the Muslim religion by carrying a Christian Bible or holding a group prayer session, for example. Even if the prayer sessions take place in a non-public room such as one’s private home, the Saudi authorities disagree.

With the prayer sessions considered offensive, the problem of building a church or any building destined for worshiping any other God then Allah is out of the question. Saudi Arabia is the home of Islam's holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, for which the Saudi king holds the title Custodian of the Holy Sites.

Mecca is the most- revered city by Muslims. The reason is the fact that it contains the holiest site of Islam - the Masjid al-Haram – and every Muslim must undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca during the week of the Hajj at least once in his life if he is physically and financially able to do so. People of other faiths are forbidden from entering the city.

Medina, on the other hand, is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of Mohamed, Islam’s prophet.

Earlier this year, Pope Benedict raised tensions between His Holiness and the Islam and drew numerous Muslim protests after a speech held in his native Germany. Then, His Holiness referred to Islam as a religion of violence, and to Mohamed as a prophet that brought only war and conflict in the region.

The tensions were somewhat quelled as the pontiff said his words had been misinterpreted.