_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Azerbaijan ________________
Papal visit planned
Active preparations now underway
Msgr. Renato Boccardo, who handles advance planning for papal trips, was in Azerbaijan early in February. Pope John Paul II is expected to visit that country this year, perhaps in the autumn.
Msgr. Boccardo, who helped organize World Youth Day celebrations during his tenure at the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has taken over the role of papal “advance man” from Cardinal Roberto Tucci, the Jesuit priest who was appointed to the College of Cardinals last year as he reached retirement.
The Pope’s visit to Azerbaijan would come on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the former Soviet republic and the Holy See. The country’s 7.7 million people are mostly Muslim, with a small Catholic community—mostly of Polish or Armenian origin—numbering about 7,500.
The papal visit would give John Paul II an opportunity to show his concern for the people of Azerbaijan, who have been engaged in a conflict with Armenia for the past 12 years. In September 2001, there was some speculation that the Pope might visit Azerbaijan during a side trip on his visit to Armenia, but the Vatican evidently decided that such an itinerary would raise diplomatic hackles, and the visit to Azerbaijan should be kept separate.