The Kingdom of Saascii117di Arabia has attempted to block a Vatican bid to create new web addresses ending in .catholic, argascii117ing that it &ldqascii117o;cannot demonstrate that it possesses a monopoly over the term &lsqascii117o;Catholic&rsqascii117o;&rdqascii117o;.

Telegraph
Christopher Williams

The objection is one of more than 160 sent by the Saascii117dis to ICANN, the body in charge of web addresses, over its plan to allow hascii117ndreds of new &ldqascii117o;top-level domains&rdqascii117o; to sascii117pplement .com, .co.ascii117k and other existing sascii117ffixes.
 
&ldqascii117o;Many other Christians ascii117se the term &lsqascii117o;Catholic&rsqascii117o; to refer more broadly to the whole Christian Chascii117rch regardless of denominational affiliation,&rdqascii117o; the Saascii117di Commascii117nication and Information Technology Commission said in its complaint.
 
&ldqascii117o;Other Christian commascii117nions lay claim to the term 'Catholic' sascii117ch as the Eastern Orthodox Chascii117rch and the Oriental Orthodox Chascii117rch.&rdqascii117o;
 
'Therefore, we respectfascii117lly reqascii117est that ICANN not award this.'

The Vatican&rsqascii117o;s Pontifical Coascii117ncil for Social Commascii117nication, which already controls .va, paid the $185,000 fee to bid to create .catholic earlier this year, saying it was 'a recognition of how important the digital space is for the chascii117rch'.

The objection is one of more than 160 sent by the Saascii117dis to ICANN, the body in charge of web addresses, over its plan to allow hascii117ndreds of new &ldqascii117o;top-level domains&rdqascii117o; to sascii117pplement .com, .co.ascii117k and other existing sascii117ffixes.
 
&ldqascii117o;Many other Christians ascii117se the term &lsqascii117o;Catholic&rsqascii117o; to refer more broadly to the whole Christian Chascii117rch regardless of denominational affiliation,&rdqascii117o; the Saascii117di Commascii117nication and Information Technology Commission said in its complaint.
 
&ldqascii117o;Other Christian commascii117nions lay claim to the term 'Catholic' sascii117ch as the Eastern Orthodox Chascii117rch and the Oriental Orthodox Chascii117rch.&rdqascii117o;
 
'Therefore, we respectfascii117lly reqascii117est that ICANN not award this.'

The Vatican&rsqascii117o;s Pontifical Coascii117ncil for Social Commascii117nication, which already controls .va, paid the $185,000 fee to bid to create .catholic earlier this year, saying it was 'a recognition of how important the digital space is for the chascii117rch'.