Pope Francis, warned by doctors not to travel to Ukraine, arrived in Kazakhstan in Central Asia on Tuesday for a three-day visit to promote dialogue and peace in the former Soviet region.
The Argentine pope, who is forced to use a wheelchair because of knee pain and has admitted to having to slow down or retire, will attend an interfaith summit in the capital, Nur-Sultan.
His plane landed just after 17:15 (1115 GMT), an AFP journalist on board said, and the 85-year-old pope met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shortly after, before delivering a first speech to the authorities and the Diplomats held corps.
Pope Francis said Sunday that the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 would be “an opportunity… for (a) dialogue as brothers, inspired by a common desire for peace, the peace our world thirsts for.”
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was originally expected but has withdrawn from the Sept. 14-15 event, dashed hopes of meeting Francis over the Ukraine conflict.
While the pope called for peace and denounced a “cruel and senseless war”, Kirill defended Putin’s “military operation” and the fight against Russia’s “external and internal enemies”.
Around 100 delegations from 50 countries are expected to attend the event in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991.
“The dialogue, the coming together, the search for peace between different religious and cultural worlds are the focus of this trip,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Monday.
– tensions –
Tokayev, 69, is an ally of Russia, although there have been tensions between the two countries since Moscow began invading in February.
He has refused to support the war, and the presence of a large Russian community in northern Kazakhstan has raised fears of a revival of Moscow’s imperial ambitions in the region.
Kazakhstan borders other former Soviet republics, as well as China and the Caspian Sea.
Lyudmila, a 74-year-old pensioner who declined to give her last name, said she hopes the Pope’s visit will encourage people around the world to learn more about Kazakhstan.
“Perhaps having such a great spiritual figure visit us will raise the profile of our country,” she told AFP.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis will address the opening of the plenary session of the Congress of World and Traditional Religions, before celebrating Mass in the afternoon and concluding his trip with a meeting with Catholic leaders on Thursday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in the country at the same time as Francis, at a time when the Vatican hopes to renew a historic deal appointing bishops in China.
Asked by journalists during the flight about a possible meeting with Xi, Francis said he had “no information” about possible talks.
However, he added that he was “always ready to go to China”.
Energy-rich Kazakhstan has a population of 19 million, 70 percent of whom are Sunni Muslims while 26 percent are Christians – mostly Russian Orthodox. Less than one percent are Catholic.
Tokayev began a series of reforms after his election in 2019, but the country was rocked by protests over fuel prices earlier this year that killed more than 200 people and shattered its image of stability.
Francis is the second Pope to visit Kazakhstan after John Paul II’s trip in September 2001.
He said last week that doctors have temporarily banned him from traveling to Ukraine or Moscow as he recovers from a knee problem that has forced him to cancel numerous Vatican events.
