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Prayers for Peace and Unity
International tensions, ecumenical ambitions, and a moment of physical
weakness made the Pope’s latest foreign trip a memorable one.

By CWR Staff

When Vatican officials made the final preparations for the 95th foreign voyage by Pope John Paul II, the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan seemed an unlikely destination for a Roman Pontiff, but not a dangerous one. On September 11 that perception changed, and the papal visit took on a very different character.

With American military planners talking openly about missions in central Asia, reporters began asking whether the Pope would abandon his plans to visit the same region. The Vatican quickly replied that the trip would proceed on schedule. “There wasn’t a debate on whether the Pope should go, although the security issue was raised,” papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. “The decision was left to John Paul.”

(As the Pope left Rome, Italian journalists reported that John Paul had received private assurances from American diplomats that there would be no military strikes on Afghanistan until after the Pope left Kazakhstan on September 25. Those reports were energetically denied by officials in both Rome and Washington. In the end, the attacks began on October 7.)

Background: Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in central Asia, is a country of 15 million inhabitants. It is a landlocked nation, dominated by steppes, in a region Western visitors still consider remote and exotic. The capital city, Astana, is situated roughly halfway between Dublin and Tokyo.

A slim majority of Kazakhstan’s people are Muslim. The largest religious minority is Orthodox. Catholics account for less than 2 percent of the population; most of the Catholics are the descendants of slaves or of prisoners who were deported to the Soviet penal camps in the region.

The government of Kazakhstan has made an effort to unify the young country (which gained independence in 1991) by minimizing ethnic differences. In fact the government has undertaken a campaign to “kazakhstanize” the population—a campaign that is viewed with severe misgivings by the country’s Catholic bishops, insofar as it seems likely to cause new problems for ethnic minorities.

In deference to the government’s wishes, Vatican planners agreed that the Pope would remain in Astana throughout his three-day stay. He would not travel to the old capital city, Almaty, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, where the population is heavily influenced by neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran—and where Islamic fundamentalism has a powerful sway. Nor would he travel to Karaganda, the city with the heaviest Catholic population, where the only Catholic diocese is located. Karaganda is the site of one of the largest gulags of the Soviet empire, a massive prison camp evoked by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago; today’s government is clearly reluctant to remind Western visitors of that bit of history.

Relations between the Catholic and Orthodox churches of Kazakhstan are generally quite friendly. However, the Orthodox hierarchy is under the patronage of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was distinctly unhappy with the prospect of the papal visit. A spokesman for the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, complained that once again Pope John Paul was visiting a country “under the canonical jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate,” without having first obtained the approval of Patriarch Aleksei II.

Tensions color papal visit
Pope John Paul arrived in Astana on Saturday, September 22, and was greeted at the city’s airport by President Nazarbayev. For the first time in recent years, the traveling party for the papal voyage did not include the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Vatican officials explained that, because of the international tensions created by the terror attack, the Pope had wanted Cardinal Sodano to remain in Rome, so that he could be continually informed of all the most recent developments.

After he celebrated Mass on Sunday, Pope John Paul II made a last-minute change to his prepared text, adding an impassioned appeal for world peace. Speaking with obvious emotion, in a clear reference to the terror attack against the United States and the prospect of American military responses, the Holy Father said: “With all my heart, I implore God to preserve peace in the world.” He asked his listeners—most of them Muslims—to recognize that both Christianity and Islam acknowledge the sovereignty of “one almighty God, of whom we are all children.” He argued energetically against the notion that Christians and Muslims could confront each other in a global religious conflict.

The papal Mass on Sunday drew a congregation estimated at 40,000—possibly the largest crowd ever to assemble for one event in the history of the young country. Organizers estimated that as many as 75 percent of those in attendance at the Mass were Muslims. Islamic leaders had urged their followers to make the Pope welcome in Kazakhstan.

During his stay in Kazakhstan, John Paul made several references to the recent history of the former Soviet republic. He observed that since attaining independence 10 years ago, Kazakhstan has made several deliberate steps to heal the wounds caused by Communist oppression. (The first public event on the Pope’s schedule during his stay in Astana was a visit to a shrine honoring the victims of Communism.) He noted with approval the young country’s decision to reject nuclear weapons and processing plants, and the clear government commitment to foster harmony across ethnic and religious boundaries. The new government, John Paul said, must remain based “on the protection of freedom, the inalienable right and profound aspiration of every person.”

President Nazarbayev voiced his appreciation for the papal message, and assured the Pope that today: “Kazakhstan is opposed to terrorism.” Although the country has been troubled by some Islamic separatist groups—particularly in the southern sections of the land, near the border of Uzbekistan—the Kazak leader emphasized that his government does not and would not support terrorist groups. He also announced, after a private talk with the Pontiff, that his government would welcome refugees from Afghanistan.

A moment of weakness
Exhausted by a flight across central Asia, Pope John Paul was unable to complete a public address after his arrival at his next stop, Armenia, on Tuesday, September 26.

The Pope had appeared alert, although obviously tired, during an airport welcoming ceremony. But later in the afternoon, as he visited Catholicos Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Pope had difficulty speaking clearly. After struggling through a portion of his prepared text, the Pontiff broke off his remarks, and a young Armenian cleric stepped forward to read the balance of the message, with John Paul seated awkwardly behind him.

Playing down stories of a papal “collapse,” Vatican officials told reporters that they had no special concerns about the health of the 81-year-old Pontiff. Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the Pope had planned in advance to deliver only part of a prepared text. In recent months the Pope, who is suffering from the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, has sometimes asked assistants to read his prepared texts, in order to save his energy.

It is true that the Pope recovered enough energy to deliver his benediction at the end of that ceremony. And after a night’s rest he completed all of the events on his schedule for the remainder of his stay in Armenia. But reporters who accompanied the Pope were not ready to dismiss the episode lightly. The Holy Father had not collapsed, they conceded, but his infirmity had been obvious.

The ecumenical imperative
The Pope had been greeted upon his arrival in Armenia by President Robert Kotcharian and by Catholicos Karekin II, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In an unprecedented gesture of ecumenical hospitality—and a reminder of the increasingly close ties between the Holy See and the Armenian Apostolic Church—the Pope was a guest of the Catholicos during his stay in Armenia.

During his remarks at the airport welcoming ceremony, the Holy Father referred to the “glorious history” of Armenian Christianity. The Armenian Apostolic Church—an Antiochene body, dating back to hundreds of years before the Great Schism that gave rise to most of the Eastern Orthodox churches—enjoys a unique position in ecumenical relations between Eastern and Western Christianity. This year, the world’s foremost Christian leaders flocked to Echmiadzin to participate in ceremonies marking the 1700th anniversary of Armenia’s acceptance of Christianity. Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, left Armenia just before Pope John Paul arrived. While Patriarch Aleksei has remained adamant in his hostility toward Rome and his refusal to meet with Pope John Paul, many observers see Karekin II as a potential ecumenical broker—a prelate whose status as a respected neutral observer could help him to arrange a meeting between these leaders of the two largest communities in Christianity. Earlier this year, there were rumors that the Russian Patriarch might actually remain in Echmiadzin after his formal appearance there, for quiet talks with the Roman Pontiff. Although those rumors eventually died, the possibilities for future ecumenical cooperation remain.

On his second day in Armenia, the Pope satisfied a cherished hope of his hosts when he used the Armenian term Metz Yeghern, which means genocide, in reference to the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The Armenian people have sought for years to gain international recognition of their suffering. At a memorial dedicated to the genocide victims, the Pope spoke of “the terrible violence done to the Armenian people,” and asked God for “the healing of wounds that are still open, through the power of your love.”

The Pope made another reference to the tragedy of 1915 on Thursday, September 28, at a farewell ceremony. He urged the people of Armenia to maintain their hope—as, he noted, they had maintained it through the darkest days of the 20th century. Then, thanking the Armenian people for their enduring witness, and lauding them for their “yearning for Christian unity,” John Paul boarded his flight back to Rome.

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