Pope travels to Kazakhstan
Policemen and camouflage-clad security agents took up position on the main streets of Kazakhstan’s capital Astana today, awaiting the arrival of Pope John Paul II on his first foreign trip since the devastating terrorist strikes in the United States last week.
During his four-day visit John Paul is expected to speak of the need for peace and justice in the aftermath of the attacks, which he strongly condemned.
Kazak officials have stressed their nation’s tradition of peaceful relations between the Kazak and Russian-language populations, and the country’s location at the meeting point between Europe and Asia, Christianity and Islam.
The frail, 81-year-old pontiff has insisted on proceeding with the trip despite security concerns in the wake of the attacks against the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Kazak officials expressed gratitude.
‘‘The value of this visit has grown against the background of the horror we saw in America,’’ Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov told a news conference today.
‘‘We appreciate the great political, not just human, gesture by the pope, whose visit underlines the importance of the world’s efforts against terrorism and the importance of the preservation of conditions conducive to dialogue between all civilizations.’’
The pontiff is going on the invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is eager to win acceptance in the West, and the country’s Catholics, who make up 2-3% of Kazakhstan’s 16.8 million population.
The majority religions are Islam and Russian Orthodox Christianity.
Some 70,000-150,000 Catholic pilgrims from Russia and Central Asia are expected to arrive in Astana, which was declared the capital only a few years ago and has a population of just 350,000.
They will be put up in hotels, student hostels, campsites and even railway carriages, Idrisov said.
Nazarbayev’s security officers, Vatican bodyguards, and more than 3,300 Kazak police will be deployed at the pope’s open-air Masses on Sunday and Monday.
All transit traffic through Astana is prohibited on those days, except for buses carrying worshippers and official vehicles.
Traffic jams built up Friday as security officers on motorcycles drove though Astana’s streets, sirens blaring, on a practice run with the Popemobile.
The special bulletproof vehicle was sent in advance of the pontiff’s arrival.
On his first stop after arriving in Astana, the Pope will lay a wreath at the memorial to the victims of political repression, honouring the legions of people who were exiled to the harsh Kazak steppes and imprisoned in Soviet-era labour camps.
Hundreds of thousands perished, but many of those who have survived to this day - including Poles, Ukrainians and other Catholics - were expected to flock to see the Pope.
‘‘To think that we should have lived to see this day!,’’ said 75-year-old Anna Bukharova, a Pole who was deported from Soviet Ukraine in 1936. ‘‘We await the Pope’s blessing.’’
