St. Joseph's Cathedral is the seat of the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia and is one of the five Catholic churches in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi besides St. Paul's Church in Musaffah, St. Mary's Church in Al Ain, St.Francis Church in the Abrahamic Family House in Saadiyat Island and St. John the Baptist Church in Ruwais. The first church was built in 1962 in the present Corniche on a plot of land donated by Sheikh Shakhbut, the ruler of Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's second-most populous city after Dubai.