Pope Francis, who has been warned by doctors against traveling to Ukraine in the immediate future, will instead deliver a message of peace to tense Central Asia with a three-day trip to Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
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.
The 85-year-old said on Sunday the 38th trip abroad since his election in 2013 was “an opportunity… for (one) 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Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was originally expected but has withdrawn from the Sept. 14-15 event, dashed hopes of meeting Francis over the Ukraine conflict.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, which is south of Russia and gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union 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.
The Pope is expected to land in Nur-Sultan just before 18:00 (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, where he will proceed to the Presidential Palace and deliver a first speech to authorities and the diplomatic corps.
– tensions –
Before that, he will be received by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The 69-year-old leader is an ally of Russia, although tensions have existed between the two countries since Moscow launched the invasion in February.
Tokayev 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.
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, but no meeting is expected, though the Vatican hopes to renew a historic deal appointing bishops in 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.
