A huge crowd of believers, representatives of diplomatic Corps and government officials headed by the president of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev, gathered Saturday evening at the international airport of the Kazakh capital Astana to welcome Pope John Paul II. The event had been publicized in national media for many weeks before the visit started.

The 81 year-old Pope looked rather tired after the long flight when he, after the welcoming words of the president Nazarbayev, made his lengthy speech in Russian with a faltering voice. At times, he put in quotations from classics of Kazakh literature in Kazakh. At one moment he let his papers slip from his trembling hands. The president was quite quick to pick them up. In his speech the pontiff stressed the importance of recognizing the rights of every community to spiritual freedom. ‘God will help you to leave in accord and peace’, he said, addressing representatives of various religious communities and added that ‘Kazakh people have a mission to carry out in building trust between the nationalities of the country’.

The bullet-proof car known as the ‘Pope-mobile’ took him to the monument to the victims of the Stalinist repression where he laid flowers and observed a minute of silence. The main event of the Pope`s visit was the Holy Mass which was held Sunday morning for 50.000 Catholics in the largest square of Astana. Pilgrims had come from all over Central Asia, Russia, the Baltic states, Poland and other parts of the world. More than 450 foreign journalists came to cover the event. The 2400 strong police force and plain clothes police took unprecedented security measures.

The Pope addressed the Mass in Russian, Polish and German, and called believers of different confessions to unite and cherish common human and spiritual values. He prayed the God to bless Kazakhstan in its endeavors to create a new society, uttering his benedictions in Kazakh.

Official sources indicate that there are 66 Catholic congregations in Kazakhstan which unite roughly 300.000 Catholics. Although they make up no more than 2,3% of the population, Catholics are increasingly gaining weight in social life. For Kazakhstan’s leaders, the Pope’s visit, the first ever made to a Central Asian state, has less spiritual than political significance. The Catholics in Kazakhstan are mostly Poles and Germans deported to the country before and during the World War II or descendants of them;. they maintain close ties with the countries of their origin. The international ‘Caritas’ Catholic charity organization is very active in the country. Catholics could help to find proper keys to open up doors of some European institutions.

On September 24, 1998, Kazakhstan and Vatican signed an Agreement on Cooperation, which paved the way to greater freedom for Catholics in Kazakhstan. Dozens of Catholic churches have sprung up in the last ten years, though the Russian Orthodox Church and Islam retain their dominating position. The visit of the Pontiff with incontestable international esteem can help create an image of Kazakhstan as a place where any religion can prosper.

The Pope received the heartiest welcome in Kazakhstan from all religious leaders. ‘He is our guest, and the Qur’an prescribes to treat any guest with respect. And the Pope is a scholar with vast knowledge. He instills respect to any of us’ said the head of the Spiritual Board of Kazakhstani Muslims, Absattar Derbisali, in a televised interview, brushing away unfriendly comments from some Muslims. The Moscow-based Russian Orthodox church expressed its ‘regret’ in relation with the visit. Absattar Derbisali retorted, ‘I think we as an independent nation should decide ourselves whom we would like to see as our guests’.

Marat Yermukanov, Kazakhstan